2023-08-15 15:00:11
POLYDOR (SOURCE : DISCOGS.COM)
Find all the episodes of the series “One song, two versions” here.
“Where are you going with that gun in your hand?” » And Joe explains that he’s going to kill his wife, his « old lady » trunk. Then he’ll go south, to Mexico, and we won’t hang him. The song Hey Joe is a story like there are many in blues, folk music, a ballad about a murder, intentional or accidental, here premeditated, out of jealousy.
Attributed to Billy Roberts, folk singer who performed it in New York clubs and had the author’s and composer’s rights registered in his name, in 1962 – he may have “borrowed” it from Niela Miller, singer that he frequented, Hey Joe began to be taken over by rock bands from the Los Angeles scene at the end of 1965, beginning of 1966. Including The Byrds, Love, The Standells, The Leaves… For all of them, no folk, a fast tempo, a sometimes a little messy energy , psychedelic shades.
But it is the version of the guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix which will become the reference. It was under the name of Jimi Hendrix Experience, the group set up in London by the American with the English Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums, that the 45-rpm was marketed in mid-December 1966. Hey Joewith, on the B side, Stone Free, written and composed by Hendrix. First success that attracts the attention of the public. With a slower tempo, drum rolls, a chorus vocal backing, the version of the Experience is close to the one recorded by Tim Rose a little earlier – presented moreover as a traditional one arranged by Rose. But, more rock, more aggressive, it is carried away by flights announcing the prowess of the “guitar hero”, by Hendrix’s singing which goes towards dramatization as he advances in history.
Mexican atmosphere
The Mexico where history is woven, Willy DeVille (real name William Paul Borsay Jr) will push it musically to the maximum. « One, two… One, two, three », and here are violins, percussion, an acoustic guitar sweep, a trumpet solo instead of electric guitar. We are in October 1992 when the album comes out Backstreets of Desire – DeVille’s ninth, the first seven, including Cabretta et The Blue Cathaving been released under the name Mink DeVille –, published by Fnac Music, phonographic division, from 1990 to 1994, of the chain of stores.
FNAC MUSIC (SOURCE : DISCOGS.COM)
In Backstreets of Desire, there’s rock, blues, zydeco sprees, New Orleans funk… and, at the heart of the album, Hey Joein this “typical” atmosphere of Mexican ensembles called “mariachis” (violins, trumpets, guitars), played by Los Camperos led by Nati Cano, and with percussionist Efrain Toro.
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