In October 1965 Curtis Knight recorded “How Would You Feel.” Knight’s guitarist was the young and still-living-in-the-USA Jimi Hendrix.
Curtis Knight Jimi Hendrix
Before Knight
In 1962, Hendrix had left the Army after a brief unproductive stint. At least as far as his military prowess was concerned since he spent much of his hitch playing guitar.
In February 1964, Hendrix had won the amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in NYC.
In March 1964, Hendrix was part of the Isley Brothers band and recorded the two-part single “Testify” before beginning a tour with them.
Earlier in 1965, Hendrix had played a session for Rosa Lee Brooks on her single “My Diary” Around the same time he also backed Little Richard on “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got, But It’s Got Me.”
After Knight
September 22, 1966 was Jimi Hendrix’s first day in England after the Animals’ ex-bassist turned producer Chas Chandler “discovered” him in New York City fronting Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in the various Greenwich Village clubs.
Though Hendrix only recorded three studio albums, anyone with any of his recordings of any kind tried to jump on the Hendrix goose that seemingly laid only golden eggs.
In 1965, he had signed a contract with PPX records to play with Curtis Knight. After Hendrix and his Experience struck it big with Are You Experienced?, PPX packaged Hendrix’s Knight tracks as its own album while playing up Hendrix’s role in the Squires.
A similar PPX album called Got That Feeling was also planned for the U.K. in 1968 before the courts stepped in and barred the release, with Hendrix himself calling it “musically worthless.”
March 2015
47 years later, Hendrix’s estate, Eperience Hendrix LLC, released You Can’t Use My Name: Curtis Knight & The Squires (featuring Jimi Hendrix) The RSVP/PPX Sessions. The name is an obvious reference to previous legal issues. Experience Hendrix selected 14 of the 88 studio recordings Hendrix had made with Curtis Knight.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Hey Joe” 1986 on the Nightmusic Show
Sometimes the power of a musicians’s instrument hides the horror of the song’s lyrics. So it was for me with “Hey Joe.” By the time I got to the third track of the Experience’s debut album, I thought I was experienced. Of course I wasn’t, but I’d fully imbibed the music’s Kool-Aid. What would the next track do to me. And side 2 awaited!
It was on October 23, 1966 that the Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded ‘Hey Joe’ at DeLane Lea studios in London. It became their first single.
It wasn’t the first time someone recorded the song and who wrote it remains a bit of a controversy.
Niela Miller
Niela Miller was one of the many young folksingers drawn to Greenwich Village.
According to a piece in the Fret Board Journal, Sometime around 1955 she wrote “Baby, Please Don’t Go To Town,” a mournful song about the joys and perils a young woman faced in the city. She recorded the song in 1962.
Jimi Hendrix Hey Joe
Billy Roberts
Billy Roberts was Niela’s boyfriend and liked the song. He wrote new words and changed the story to a guy Joe who’d murdered his lover. He copyrighted “his” song in 1962. He played his “Hey Joe” and many of Greenwich Villages artists heard it and covered it.
Later Roberts moved to San Francisco.
Jimi Hendrix Hey Joe
Chet Powers > Dino Valenti
Another Greenwich Village expatriate, Chet Powers also started playing the song in LA, hoping a band would pick up “his” song.
Powers’ name by then was Dino Valenti, a name we don’t associate with “Hey Joe” but should associate with a song we are certain he wrote: Let’s Get Together.
Tim Rose
And yet another Greenwich expat, Tim Rose, performed “Hey Joe.” Rose claimed that it was a standard he’d learned as a boy. Here’s Tim doing the song in 1967:
Despite much searching, no one has found a traditional song that predates Naomi Miller’s song or Robert’s re-interpretation.
Los Angeles
Be that as it may, the Byrds and Love group also began to include it in their sets. It was The Leaves, another Los Angeles band, that recorded the song as a single in 1965.
Here is a video of their version. Jim Pons, the bass player, later joined The Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and the Mothers of Invention (who had their own Mothers-version of the tune–“Hey Pop, where you goin’ with that button on your shirt?”)
Jimi Hendrix Hey Joe
Finally Jimi
And of course, THE version for most is Jimi’s. As you can see above on the album label Billy Roberts gets credit. Here’s a great live Hendrix version.
Jimi Hendrix Hey Joe
Other Joes
Others who have covered the song including Wilson Pickett, Patti Smith, and Eddie Murphy. In fact, a site called “Hey Joe Versions” shows a list of over 1800 artists who have covered it.
For me the one that gets to the song’s horror is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ version that you heard above. Here’s the video to watch and enjoy.
Jimi Hendrix Hey Joe
If you’d like to read more, there’s a likely better article than this one written by psaudio.com’s Stuart Marvin . Follow this link. In it he has his own list of covers.
The Leaves (1965)
The Byrds (1966)
Jimi Hendrix (1966 U.K./1967 U.S.)
Love (1966)
Cher (1967)
Johnny Hallyday (1967)
Deep Purple (1968)
Johnny Rivers (1968)
Wilson Pickett (1969)
Patti Smith (1974)
Roy Buchanan (1974)
Spirit (1975)
Ten Years After (1979)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1986)
Seal (1991)
Eddie Murphy (1993)
Otis Taylor (1996, 2008, 2015)
Helge & The Firef*ckers (1999)
Robert Plant (2002)
Brad Mehldau (2012)
Charlotte Gainsbourg (2013)
Jimi Hendrix Hey Joe
Those Poles!
Marvin also adds this interesting historic fact: …during a 2019 “Thank Jimi” festival in Wroclaw, Poland, 7,423 guitarists simultaneously played “Hey Joe” in a public square, breaking the record set at the previous year’s festival by 12.
Some dates just seem to have a whole lot a music et al going on and October 17 is one of those days. Just look at what happened on October 17 throughout the 60s.
“Save the Last Dance for Me”
October 17 – 23, 1960: “Save the Last Dance for Me” by the Drifters was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The story behind the song is that Doc Pomus found a wedding invitation in a hatbox. The invitation reminded him of his own wedding reception and watching his brother Raoul dance with his new wife, Willi Burke, a Broadway actress. Doc watched because the effects of childhood polio kept him in his wheelchair.
The memory inspired him to stay up all night writing lyrics. He used the invitation for stationery.
Earlier that day, Doc’s musical partner, Mort Shuman had played a Latin melody. Doc wanted the lyrics to sound like a poem translated into English They do suggest jealousy: “If he asks if you’re all alone, can he take you home, you must tell him no.”
Pomus ended his night of songwriting by writing down the words that would become the title: “Save The Last Dance For Me.”
Famous composers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller produced the song. Ben E King was the Drifters lead singer at the time. Ironically, equally famous Atlantic Records Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler decided to put “Save the Last Dance for Me” on the B-side. Dick Clark of American Bandstand flipped over the single, listened to “Dance,” realized what a great song it was, and played it on his show American Bandstand.
It was the Drifters only #1 hit.
The song’s popularity continues into our 21st century. Unfortunately, Pomus and Willi Burke’s marriage did not make it out of the 60s.
October 17 Music et al
Beatles first Christmas wishes
October 17, 1963 was a(nother) busy day for the Beatles that began mid-afternoon. First they recorded their first Christmas disc. Click below to hear it, likely hear it again. American fans did not receive this recording because Americans did not yet know about the Beatles. The Beatles continued to record these annual fan club gifts until 1969. The Official Beatles Fan Club mailed this disc out on December 9.
Later, the Beatles again recorded Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Got a Hold On Me,” but were still not satisfied. The version we hear on With the Beatles is actually a combination of earlier attempts.
The main goal of the day was to record their next single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” It took 17 takes.
They then recorded (in 15 takes) “This Boy.” They overdubbed some of the vocals which are the hallmark of the song.
Their day ended at 10 PM though they had taken a break between 5:30 and 7 PM.
October 17 Music et al
Do Wah Diddy Diddy
October 17 1964 was the first day that Manfred Mann’s version of Do Wah Diddy Diddy hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. It remained there until October 30.
Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich wrote the song and the American group the Exiters first recorded it in 1963.
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (see above) had hired Barry and Greenwich who are also famous for many other songs such as “Chapel of Love”, “People Say”, and “Iko Iko,” “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand),” and “Leader of the Pack”
Manfred Mann recorded the song (with the extra Ditty in the title) and had the number one hit with it.
October 17 Music et al
Hair
1967’s October 17 Special music event is the first one that feels like the 60s as many remember it. Very much so.
The play, Hair premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theatre and ran for a limited engagement of six weeks. Although the production had a “tepid critical reception”, it was popular with audiences.
James Rado and Gerome Ragni wrote the play. Galt MacDermot the music. and music by Galt MacDermot. The play reflected the counter-cultural times with its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, sexuality, and treatment of the flag. A nude scene caused much comment and controversy. It became the blueprint for future so-called “rock musicals.”
October 17 Music et al
Brian Epstein
October 17, 1967: although the Beatles had not attended manager Brian Epstein’s funeral on August 29, John, Paul, George, and Ringo attended the memorial service for Brian Epstein at the New London Synagogue, Abbey Road. [Beatles Bible article] (see Nov 27)
Sugar Sugar
And we come full cycle. October 17, 1969, just two years after Hair opened (and continued to run) was the last day Archies’ “Sugar Sugar” was the Billboard #1 song. Who co-wrote “Sugar Sugar”? None other than Jeff Barry whom we find in the middle of today’s post with his wife Ellie Greenwich.
October 17 Music et al
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
