Songs with the name Joe

"Hey Joe" began as a garage-rock single by The Leaves in 1965 — raw, snarling, and fast, the sound of mid-Sixties American garage at its most direct. The song's tale of a man heading to shoot his unfaithful lover traveled fast: Cher gave it a dramatic, orchestral pop reading in 1967, while Deep Purple's 1968 version was brooding and heavy, fitting a band then leaning on slow, stormy covers. The most famous reading is Jimi Hendrix's from 1966, where the slow-burning arrangement and wringing guitar turned the grim story into a showcase for his phrasing and tone — the version most people know today.

The name gets stranger treatment elsewhere. Frank Zappa's "Joe's Garage" (1979) is a sprawling, satirical rock opera about a musician and the absurdities of the music business, told with Zappa's usual wit and dense, playful production. Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Joe" is a short, wistful piece — a brief melodic interlude rather than a stadium rocker, unusual for the band.

Joan Baez's "Joe Hill" is a folk ballad about the labor organizer executed in 1915, carried by her clear voice and a marching, hopeful gait; she sang it at Woodstock. Kings of Leon's "Joe's Head" (2003) is a restless, riff-driven Southern garage-rock tale of a crime and its aftermath, all scratchy urgency and yowling delivery from their early years.