Hey Joe

"Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?"
The Leaves' third release of "Hey Joe"
Single by The Leaves
B-side	"Be With You" (1st Pressing) "Girl From The East" (2nd Pressing) "Funny Little World" (3rd Pressing)
Released	November 1965 (1965-11) April 1966 (1966-04)
Format	7-inch 45 rpm
Genre	Hard rock
Length	2:40
Label	Mira 207 (1965) Mira 222 (1966)
Producer(s)	Norm Ratner
The Leaves singles chronology
"Love Minus Zero" (1965) "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?" (1965) "You Better Move On" (1965)

"Hey Joe"
1967 American picture sleeve.
Single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
B-side	"Stone Free"
Released	December 16, 1966 (1966-12-16) (UK)
Format	Seven-inch 45 rpm record
Recorded	De Lane Lea Studios, London, October 23, 1966
Genre	Blues rock
Length	3:30
Label	Polydor (no. 56139)
Producer(s)	Chas Chandler
The Jimi Hendrix Experience singles chronology
"Hey Joe" (1966) "Purple Haze" (1967)

"Hey Joe" is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and as such has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his unfaithful wife. The song was registered for copyright in the U.S. in 1962 by Billy Roberts, however, diverse credits and claims have led to confusion about the song's authorship. The earliest known commercial recording of the song is the late-1965 single by the Los Angeles garage band The Leaves; the band then re-recorded the track and released it in 1966 as a follow-up single which became a hit. Currently, the best-known version is The Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1966 recording, their debut single. The song title is sometimes given as "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?" or similar variations.

While claimed by the late Tim Rose to be a traditional song, or often erroneously attributed to the pen of American musician Dino Valenti (who also went by the names Chester or Chet Powers, and Jesse Farrow), "Hey Joe" was registered for copyright in the U.S. in 1962 by Billy Roberts. Scottish folk singer Len Partridge has claimed that he helped write the song with Roberts when they both performed in clubs in Edinburgh in 1956. Other sources (including singer Pat Craig) claim that Roberts assigned the rights to the song to his friend Valenti while Valenti was in jail, in order to give him some income upon release.

Roberts was a relatively obscure California-based folk singer, guitarist and harmonica player who performed on the West Coast coffeehouse circuit. He later recorded the country rock album Thoughts of California with the band Grits in San Francisco in 1975, produced by Hillel Resner.