411 Music Ten Deep 2.3.12: The Top Ten Songs About Guys

Posted by C.A. Bell on 02.03.2012

From Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" and Rush's "Tom Sawyer" to the Grateful Dead's "Casey Jones," Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" and more, 411's Christopher Bell breaks down the top 10 songs about guys!

The List

It is amazing how just a slight change in the topic can create a completely different kind of list. Last week I looked at the top ten songs about girls. So, I figured it would be an easy transition to just flip the coin and take a look at the songs about guys this week. Fortunately or not, the task just couldn't be that easy. The first problem I ran into was a little thing called gender bias. The simple fact of the matter is that the proportion of female music history to male music history is incredibly lopsided. To make matters worse, the gender bias inherent in the music industry made it really hard on my rule about the guy's name being in a song. See, if a guy sings a love song about a girl, it's no big deal. The other way around? Well, a lot of times names had to be removed to protect the innocent. Many of the great female love songs had to refer to some ethereal "Him"; either to hide the sin inside of a song about God or to convince male record buyers that Diana Ross might actually be talking about them. Long story short, just flipping the list wasn't so easy. Then, I hit paydirt.

It should have been much easier than I made it. What is more unique to the tradition of American song than a "story about a man", the heroic folk tale. American Roots music is filthy with songs about great men. The blues tradition used these tales to deliver biblical allegories about the pitfalls of sin. The folk music that came to represent a burgeoning labor movement became a way to inspire organization and broadcast news about labor leaders across the country. But it was in Appalachian bluegrass that the "story of a man" truly took root. Bluegrass's beginnings were built upon heroic tall tales; a sort of modern American mythology translating the events of the day into the supernatural. That tradition continues today in modern country music. Now, I had my in. My new problem was that there were too many songs to consider. This week's selections ended up being much more difficult than last week. If you want to know just how hard, check out the 700 song playlist of everything I was considering on Spotify. Alright, enough of the jibber-jabberin', let's talk about some dudes.

The Rules

So, it's become clear over the last few weeks that some folks don't read anything unless it is in big lettering. I'm cool with that. Sometimes you just want the list and that is it. But, in the interest of saving you some time later, I have decided to add a new section to the column to explicitly detail the rules for a song to be considered. I promise you, I have done everything within my power to set these rules arbitrarily, bending them to my will in order to include or exclude songs on little more than whim. They are in very bold lettering though.

1. The subject of the song must be a man, as proven by the use of a gender specific pronoun or basis on a historic male figure.

2. In order to cut the topic down and avoid ambiguity, the man's name must be in the title of the song.

3. The song must have been released officially sometime during the modern era (arbitrarily defined as 1960-Present)

The Honorable Mentions (And Excuses)

Just like last week, even after narrowing the topic down to having a name in the title, there were just too many songs to consider. Here were some of the selections that almost made the cut.

XTC/Primus/Nouvelle Vague/The Rembrandts - "Making Plans For Nigel"
Jerry Jeff Walker/NIna Simone - "Mr. Bojangles"
Cream - "Tales of Brave Ulysses"
Bob Dylan/The Band - "Blind Willie McTell"
Frank Zappa - "Bobby Brown Goes Down" & "Joe's Garage"
Odetta/Nick Cave/Bruce Springsteen - "John Henry"
The Jam - "Smithers-Jones"
Traditional - "John the Revelator"
Richie Havens - "Handsome Johnny"
Pink Floyd/Jay Farrar/Love & Rockets - "Lucifer Sam"
Elton John - "Daniel"
T. Rex/Bauhaus - "Telegram Sam"
Paul Simon - "You Can Call Me Al"
The Beatles - "For The Benefit of Mr. Kite"
PJ Harvey - "C'mon Billy"
Traffic/Frank Black - "John Barleycorn"
Television - "Little Johnny Jewel"
The Beach Boys - "Sloop John B."
Alice Cooper - "Steven" & "The Ballad of Dwight Fry"
Todd Rundgren - "Wolfman Jack"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "The Ballad of Curtis Loew"
Randy Newman/Harry Nilsson - "Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear"
Jude - "Rick James"
Cake - "Frank Sinatra"
David Bowie - "Song For Bob Dylan"
Van Morrison/Dexy's Midnight Runners - "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smitle"
Erykah Badu - "Tyrone"
Mavis Staples - "Creep Along Moses"

The Ten

10. Grateful Dead - "Casey Jones"

Our list kicks off with a classic rock radio staple that embodies the tall tale. "Casey Jones" is about a railroad engineer whose train crashes. It was inspired by the story of an actual engineer named Casey Jones. The engineer's exploits were also sung of in an earlier folk song called "The Ballad of Casey Jones", which the Grateful Dead played live several times. John Luther Jones was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee, who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). As a boy, he lived near Cayce, Kentucky, where he acquired the nickname of "Cayce" which he chose to spell as "Casey." On April 30, 1900, he alone was killed when his passenger train, the Cannonball Express, collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi, on a foggy and rainy night. His dramatic death, trying to stop his train and save lives, made him a hero; he was immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the IC. Today, there are no less than four railroad museums dedicated to and named after Casey Jones.

The wreck that made Jones a legend has been used in modern song more times than one can count. He has played a role in songs by AC/DC, Gillian Welch, Motörhead, North Mississippi Allstars, Kris Kristofferson, and Josh Ritter. But, it was musical honor from the Grateful Dead that would prove to be the best. The music for "Casey Jones" was written by Jerry Garcia, and the lyrics are by Robert Hunter. The song first appeared on the Dead's 1970 album Workingman's Dead. Subsequently it was included on a number of their live albums. Though "Casey Jones" and the sister single from Workingman's Dead, "Uncle John's Band", are both considered among the group's most successful classic tracks, neither were particularly successful on the charts. Regardless of that, the album received perfect scores from AllMusic, Rolling Stone, Sputnikmusic, and famed rock critic Robert Christgau.

9. Townes Van Zandt/Emmylou Harris/Willie Nelson/Steve Earle - "Pancho And Lefty"

I don't know how many times I have to say this before it sinks in. Townes Van Zandt is the great undiscovered American treasure. Though his songs have been influential to a generation of roots musicians for the better part of forty years now, his career still seems a bit underground. Perhaps best known to my generation as the guy who covered "Dead Flowers" on the Big Lebowski soundtrack, it comes as no small irony that Van Zandt is himself one of the most covered songwriters in country music history. Among his amazing catalog of songs, "Pancho and Lefty" stands as one of the very best and certainly most well-known.

"Pancho And Lefty" tells the story of a Mexican bandit named Pancho and a more enigmatic character, Lefty. The song tells of Pancho's death and implies that he was betrayed by his associate Lefty who was paid off by the Mexican federales. Although the lyrics are not exactly reconcilable with the historic details of the life and death of the famous Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, Van Zandt does not rule out the idea. In an interview, he recalled, "I realize that I wrote it, but it's hard to take credit for the writing, because it came from out of the blue. It came through me and it's a real nice song, and I think, uh, I've finally found out what it's about. I've always wondered what it's about. I kinda always knew it wasn't about Pancho Villa, and then somebody told me that Pancho Villa had a buddy whose name in Spanish meant 'Lefty.' I know that's strange, huh? But in the song, my song, Pancho gets hung. 'They only let him hang around out of kindness I suppose' and the real Pancho Villa was, uh, assassinated."

Van Zandt first recorded it for his 1972 album, The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. Emmylou Harris then covered the song for her 1977 album, Luxury Liner and the song became a number one country hit in 1983 when Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson adopted it as the title track of their duet album Pancho & Lefty. Of the various covers of "Pancho", I think the best and most heartfelt comes from modern day country music icon Steve Earle. In 1975, Earle moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he met Guy Clark and his wife Susanna. He appears in the 1975 film Heartworn Highways, which documents the songwriting scene in Nashville around Clark, including fellow Texas musicians Townes van Zandt and Rodney Crowell. Earle had already met Van Zandt in Texas, and refers to Clark and Van Zandt as his mentors and teachers. Earle even named his son, the fantastic in his own right Justin Townes Earle, after the late great Van Zandt. Though Earle has played the song throughout his career, his first officially recorded cover of "Pancho And Lefty" appears on his 2009 tribute album to Van Zandt, Townes. Here, Earle puts his intimate knowledge of Van Zandt to work and displays the true sadness of this classic outlaw song.

8. Jerry Reed/Primus - "Amos Moses"

Most people who know Jerry Reed as the evil football coach from Waterboy, probably don't know how beloved he was as a country musician in the 1970s. From 1970 to 1979, Reed had 32 singles on the U.S. Billboard Charts, including "Guitar Man," "A Thing Called Love," "Alabama Wild Man," "When You're Hot, You're Hot" (which garnered a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance), "Ko-Ko Joe", "Lord, Mr. Ford", "East Bound and Down" (the theme song for the 1977 blockbuster Smokey and the Bandit, in which Reed co-starred), "The Bird," and "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)". Amongst all of those great songs, "Amos Moses" was Reed's most successful. It was released in October 1970 as the fourth and final single from the album, Georgia Sunshine. This record was Reed's highest-charted single on Billboard Hot 100, peaking No. 8. "Amos Moses" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America. It also appeared on charts in several countries, and was No. 28 on Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1971.

The song focuses on a one armed Cajun alligator hunter named Amos Moses, who lives "about 45 minutes southeast of Thibodaux, Louisiana". The song deals with Amos's history, where his "daddy would use him for alligator bait" as well as his troubles with the law for illegal alligator hunting, including a description of how the town sheriff "snuck in the swamp gonna get the boy but he never come out again". Perfectly fitting in with the Appalachian folk hero tales that I discussed earlier, "Amos Moses" has the added advantage of being downright funky. The song was covered by Primus on their Rhinoplasty EP in 1998. In a lot of ways Primus found a perfect vehicle in the Reed classic, matching Les Claypool's backwoods lead vocal with Reed's signature use of humor, making "Amos Moses" one of the best covers the band has ever recorded.

7. Paul Simon - "Duncan"

It is beginning to seem as if I can't do one of these lists without including a song by Paul Simon. There is good reason for that however. Namely, he is one of the greatest songwriters of any generation. "Duncan" is the second song of Paul Simon's February 1972 album Paul Simon, his first solo endeavor after the dissolution of the duo Simon & Garfunkel. The song was also released as a single in July 1972 as "Duncan" b/w "Run That Body Down".

A ballad in E-minor, "Duncan" tells the story of Lincoln Duncan, a fisherman's son. An inability to fall asleep in a cheap motel due to the loud sex that a couple is having next door sends Duncan off on a long reverie. He recalls his decision to leave "the boredom and the chowder" of his hometown in the Canadian maritime provinces and head towards New England. He recalls running out of money, losing his virginity to a young female street preacher – "just like a dog I was befriended" – and finally lying on the ground at night and thanking God for his musical ability.

Between the stanzas, the song features instrumental interludes, played on 2 flutes, by Los Incas, an Andean group which had previously collaborated with Simon & Garfunkel on "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" in 1970. "Duncan" peaked at #52 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in 1972. A concert rendition featuring Urubamba performing the interludes was included on the 1974 album Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin'. Simon has included the song in his set lists for some subsequent tours as well. "Duncan" is one of my favorite Simon songs period. This is a song that shows exactly how good he is at capturing one moment in time for the ages and couples that with his amazing ability to tell a story about coming of age. Like anything else from Paul Simon I've included on any list, this was a no-brainer.

6. John Prine/Swamp Dogg - "Sam Stone"

There are some lyrics that are such beautiful revelations they can move you to tears. When John Prine sings "There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes. Jesus died for nothin', I suppose," I still have a hard time not falling out of my chair. Maybe it is because I know all too well the effect that addiction can have on a family, but Prine's tale of the slow, painful death of an addicted Vietnam veteran is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The song can be interpreted as a reference to the phenomenon of heroin or morphine addiction and subsequent heroin addiction among Vietnam war veterans. The song does not mention the Vietnam War, saying only that Sam returned from "serving in the conflict overseas." There is a single explicit reference to morphine, but not to heroin, although he does use the term "habit," slang commonly associated with heroin use, and sings "he popped his last balloon," very likely referring to one of the ways in which street heroin is commonly packaged - in small rubber balloons.

Like Townes Van Zandt, John Prine is an artist that is more well-known for other artists covering his material than his original records. The most famous of these songs is "Angel From Montgomery", but "Sam Stone" is a close second. Parts of the melody of "Sam Stone" were used by Roger Waters in the opening of "The Post War Dream," a song on Pink Floyd's 1983 album "The Final Cut". The song is indirectly referenced in "Cop Shoot Cop...", which closes Spiritualized's 1997 album, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. The song has been covered by Johnny Cash, Evan Dando, and Al Kooper. The best cover performance of "Sam Stone" however appears on legendary Soul man Swamp Dogg's Cuffed, Collared, Tagged & Gassed from 1972. Dogg's version of "Sam Stone" is a brilliant R&B workup of the country track.

5. Curtis Mayfield - "Freddie's Dead"

If you need a safe bet for a song about surviving the trials and tribulations of everyday life, Curtis Mayfield is always THE guy. "Freddie's Dead" was the first single from his 1972 soundtrack album for the film Super Fly. The single was released before the Super Fly album, and in fact before the film itself was in theaters. The song peaked at #4 on the U.S. Pop Chart and #2 on the R&B chart. The song laments the death of Fat Freddie, a character in the film who is run over by a car. Like most of the music from the Super Fly album, "Freddie's Dead" appears in the film only in an instrumental arrangement, without any lyrics. The song's music is featured prominently in the film's opening sequence and also recurs at several other points. Because of this usage the song was subtitled "Theme from Superfly" on its single release (but not on the album). It is not to be confused with "Superfly", a different song and the second single released from the Super Fly album. The arrangement is driven by a strong walking bass line, wah wah guitars, and a melancholy string orchestration.

"Freddie's Dead" has been covered by performers including E.U., MFSB and The Derek Trucks Band. The band Fishbone covered "Freddie's Dead" for the lead track on their 1988 album Truth and Soul. Chef Aid: The South Park Album, included a track from Master P named "Kenny's Dead", a parody of the Mayfield track. Curtis Mayfield was always an important figure in social music, but with "Freddie's Dead" he struck an important chord. At the outbreak of the crack epidemic in poor black communities, the song became a battle cry in the fight against drug addled ghettos. While that may not have worked out too well, at least we got this fantastic song out of the deal.

4. Kris Kristofferson/Janis Joplin - "Me And Bobby McGee"

With the third country songwriter submission to the list, Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" is a song that was covered multiple times with various levels of commercial success. Roger Miller was the first artist to have a hit with the song, peaking with it at No. 12 on the US country chart in 1969. Gordon Lightfoot's version hit No. 13 on the pop chart and No. 1 country in his native Canada in 1970. Lightfoot sang the song after a detailed tribute to Kris Kristofferson in a CBC broadcast from the summer 1969 Charlottetown Festival. In his introduction, Lightfoot referred to the Miller version and said he intended to record it himself "the way it should be done." In a 2008 autobiography, Don Reid and Harold Reid of the Statler Brothers say Kristofferson promised it to them, but when they later inquired about recording it, they learned Miller had already cut the song. The Reids say there were no hard feelings, and were happy about Miller's success with the song. The song was later included on a Statler Brothers album, and was not released as a single.

Janis Joplin covered the song for inclusion on her Pearl album only a few days before her death in October 1970. Kristofferson had sung the song for Joplin, and singer Bob Neuwirth taught it to her. Kristofferson, however, did not know she had covered it until after her death (the first time he heard it was the day after she died). Joplin's version topped the charts to become her only number one single and only the second posthumous number one single in rock & roll history (the first was "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding). In 2004, the Janis Joplin version of this song was ranked No. 148 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

For the second time in two weeks, I have to play with gender roles a little bit. Believe it or not, Bobby McGee was intended to be a girl. In the original version of the song, Bobby is a woman; Janis Joplin, who was a lover and a friend of Kristofferson's from the beginning of her career to her death, changed the sex and a few of the lyrics in her cover. Kristofferson states he did not write this song for her, but the song is associated with her. Especially, he has said, in the line, "Somewhere near Salinas, Lord, I let her slip away." Transitions in gender weren't unheard of. "The House of the Rising Sun", a traditional made famous by The Animals, was also originally about a girl. I feel pretty justified including "Me And Bobby McGee" here because it was the Joplin version that really takes this song to the level of a classic.

3. Rush - "Tom Sawyer"

This entry has a very special place in my heart. In 1994, Kansas City's hard rock radio station did a countdown of the 100 greatest songs in rock history. It caused a bit of controversy when the station picked Rush's "Tom Sawyer" as number one, over Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven". At the time, I thought they were absolutely spot on. A few months later, Rush (along with the then unknown opening band Primus) were the hosts of my first live performance. I still consider their performance of "Tom Sawyer" that night one of my favorite childhood memories.

Released on Mercury Records and PolyGram in 1981 on the Moving Pictures album, "Tom Sawyer" was written about the Mark Twain character of the same name. The song was written by Lee, Peart, and guitarist Alex Lifeson in collaboration with Canadian lyricist Pye Dubois (the lyricist of Max Webster), who also co-wrote other Rush songs such as "Force Ten," "Between Sun and Moon," and "Test For Echo." According to the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard (which devoted an entire episode to the making of Moving Pictures), "Tom Sawyer" came about during a summer rehearsal holiday that Rush spent at Ronnie Hawkins' farm outside Toronto. Peart was presented with a poem by Dubois named "Louis the Lawyer" (often cited as "Louis the Warrior") that he modified and expanded. Lee and Lifeson then helped set the poem to music. The unique growling sound heard in the song came from Lee's fiddling with his Oberheim OB-X synthesizer.In the December 1985 Rush Backstage Club newsletter, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart said:

Tom Sawyer was a collaboration between myself and Pye Dubois, an excellent lyricist who wrote the lyrics for Max Webster. His original lyrics were kind of a portrait of a modern day rebel, a free-spirited individualist striding through the world wide-eyed and purposeful. I added the themes of reconciling the boy and man in myself, and the difference between what people are and what others perceive them to be - namely me I guess.

Geddy Lee has referred to the track as the band's "defining piece of music...from the early '80s". It is one of Rush's best-known songs and is a staple of classic rock radio. It reached 25 in the UK singles chart in October 1981, and in the US peaked at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at 8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. In 2009 it was named the 19th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. "Tom Sawyer" was one of five Rush songs inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28, 2010.

2. Pearl Jam - "Jeremy"

Time for yet another (only slightly) embarrassing confession. In the early 90s, I thought Pearl Jam was the best band Seattle would ever produce. Better than Soundgarden, better than Alice in Chains, and even better than Nirvana. "Jeremy" was the reason why. "Jeremy" was released in 1992 as the third single from Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten (1991). The song reached the number five spot on both the Mainstream and Modern Rock Billboard charts. It did not originally chart on the regular Billboard Hot 100 singles chart since it was not released as a commercial single in the U.S. at the time, but a re-release in July 1995 eventually brought it up to number 79. The song was included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, Rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003). A remixed version of the song was included on the 2009 Ten reissue. The song especially gained notoriety by way of its music video (directed by Mark Pellington and released in 1992), which was put into heavy rotation by MTV and became a hit. In 1993, the "Jeremy" video was awarded four MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Video of the Year.

Coming of age musically just as the video for "Jeremy" went into heavy rotation on MTV, this was the song that defined the grunge rock movement for me. "Jeremy" is based on two different true stories. The song takes its main inspiration from a newspaper article about a 15-year-old boy named Jeremy Wade Delle from Richardson, Texas who killed himself in front of his English classmates at Richardson High School on Monday morning of January 8, 1991 at about 9:45 am. In a 2009 interview, Vedder said that he felt "the need to take that small article and make something of it—to give that action, to give it reaction, to give it more importance." Delle was described by schoolmates as "real quiet" and known for "acting sad." After coming in to class late that morning, Delle was told to get an admittance slip from the school office. He left the classroom, and returned with a .357 Magnum revolver. Delle walked to the front of the classroom, announced "Miss, I got what I really went for", put the barrel of the firearm in his mouth, and pulled the trigger before his teacher or classmates could react. A girl named Lisa Moore knew Jeremy from the in-school suspension program: "He and I would pass notes back and forth and he would talk about life and stuff," she said. "He signed all of his notes, 'Write back.' But on Monday he wrote, 'Later days.' I didn't know what to make of it. But I never thought this would happen."

In Pellington's video, Jeremy is shown being taunted by classmates at school, running through a forest, and screaming at his parents at a dinner table. Jeremy is the only character that actually moves throughout the video (although the teacher moves as Jeremy tosses the slip to her towards the end of the video). Most of the other characters in Jeremy's life are in stationary tableau. Shots of words such as "problem", "peer", "harmless", and "bored" frequently appear onscreen. Also, the phrase Genesis 3:6 appears, which references the creation of sin, specifically Eve eating from the Tree of Knowledge and giving some of the fruit to Adam. As the song becomes more dense and frenetic, Jeremy's behavior becomes increasingly agitated. Strobe lighting adds to the anxious atmosphere. Jeremy is shown standing, arms raised in a V (as described in the lyrics at the beginning of the song), in front of a wall of billowing flames. Jeremy is later shown staring at the camera while wrapped in a US flag, surrounded by fire.

The final scene of the video shows Jeremy striding into class, tossing the balled up late pass he had been sent for to the teacher and standing before his classmates. He reaches down and draws back his arm as he takes a gun out of his pocket. The gun only appears onscreen in the uncut version of the video. The edited video cuts to an extreme close-up of Jeremy's face as he puts the barrel of the gun in his mouth, closes his eyes, and pulls the trigger. After a flash of light the screen turns black. The next shot is a pan across the classroom, showing Jeremy's blood-splattered classmates, all completely still, recoiling in horror. Prior to the shooting scene, Vedder is at seen making a "finger gun" gesture and pointing it at his head, as a form of foreshadowing. A blackboard, where all the harsh terms and phrases had been scrawled, is shown dangling presumably where Vedder had been singing.

After the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, MTV and VH1 rarely aired the video, and mention of it was omitted in retro-documentaries such as I Love the '90s. It is still available on the internet, on websites such as YouTube. It can also occasionally be seen playing at Hard Rock Cafe locations. The video has been getting airtime on VH1 Classic and MTV Hits programming as of 2006, and is currently in circulation via late night playlists featured on Scuzz. The video was included in MuchMusic's list of the 12 most controversial videos. The reason was because of the topic of suicide, and recent school shootings. The scene of Jeremy with the gun in his mouth was not shown. It was also included on VH1's countdown of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '90s" at number 11, and with several clips of the video shown, including part of the ending. The uncensored version of the video was shown as part of the retrospective "Pearl Jam Ten Revisited" on VH1 Classic in 2009 prior to the album's re-release, including the shot in which Jeremy puts the gun in his mouth. The closing scene was also parodied in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother in the episode "Baby Talk". The song has also been featured in Top 100 lists from MTV, Kerrang!, and Rolling Stone.

1. Jimi Hendrix/Everyone With A Guitar In The 1960s - "Hey Joe"

Okay, I can't foresee a legitimate argument as to why "Hey Joe" shouldn't be the number one song on this list. Made famous by none other than Jimi Hendrix, this song has been covered by at least 69 other artists including Patti Smith, Deep Purple, Nick Cave, 'Weird' Al Yankovic, Robert Plant, Type O Negative, Seal, Love, The Mothers of Invention, and The Byrds. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his wife. However, diverse credits and claims have led to confusion as to the song's true authorship and genesis. 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.

While claimed by the late Tim Rose to be a traditional song, or often erroneously attributed to the pen of American musician Dino Valenti, "Hey Joe" was registered for copyright in the U.S. in 1962 by Billy Roberts. Roberts was a relatively obscure California-based folk singer, guitarist and harmonica player who performed on the West Coast coffeehouse circuit. Roberts possibly drew inspiration for "Hey Joe" from three earlier works: his girlfriend Niela Miller's 1955 song "Baby, Please Don't Go To Town" (which uses a similar chord progression based on the circle of fifths); Carl Smith's 1953 US country hit "Hey Joe!", which shared the title and the "question and answer" format; and the early 20th century traditional ballad "Little Sadie", which tells of a man on the run after he has shot his wife. The lyrics to "Little Sadie" often locate the events in Thomasville, North Carolina and Jericho, (near Hollywood, South Carolina). Roberts was himself born in South Carolina.

Folk rock singer Tim Rose's slower version of the song (recorded in 1966 and claimed to be Rose's arrangement of a wholly traditional song) inspired the first single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The ex-bassist for The Animals, Chas Chandler, who was now focusing on managing other acts, had also seen Rose performing the song at the Cafe Wha? in New York City and was looking for an artist to record a rock version of "Hey Joe". Chandler discovered Jimi Hendrix, who had also been playing at the Cafe Wha? in 1966 and performing an arrangement of "Hey Joe" inspired by Rose's rendition. Chandler decided to take Hendrix with him to England in September 1966, where he would subsequently turn the guitarist into a star. Tim Rose re-recorded "Hey Joe" in the 1990s, re-titling it "Blue Steel .44" and again claimed the song as his own arrangement of a traditional song.

Released in December 1966, Hendrix's version became a hit in the United Kingdom, entering the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart in January 1967 and peaking at #6. The single was released in the United States on May 1, 1967 with the B-side "51st Anniversary" but failed to chart. "Hey Joe", as recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, remains the best known version of the song and is listed as #198 on Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2009 it was named the 22nd greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. "Hey Joe" was the last song Jimi Hendrix performed at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and as such, it was also the final song of the whole festival. The song was performed after the crowd, comprising the 80,000 who hadn't yet left the festival, cheered for an encore. A lot of songs on this list have accolades from critics or were commercial hits, but "Hey Joe" is the only one that is currently a world record holder. 1,572 guitarists played "Hey Joe" simultaneously in the town square of Wrocław, Poland on May 1, 2006, breaking a Guinness record. A new record was set when 1,881 guitarists played "Hey Joe" in Wrocław on May 1, 2007. Then on May 1, 2008, 1,951 guitarists played "Hey Joe" in Wrocław to set a new world record. The record was further broken in Wroclaw on May 1, 2009, when 6346 guitarists played the song in the same venue. That's an awful lot of Polish people talking killing their wives.

The Comment Bag

Lists like these tend to generate a lot of emotional debate (mostly of the angry kind). That's a good thing. There's is nothing better than a spirited argument about your favorite music. Here I will take a moment to answer some of your thoughtful statements/arguments/concerns/angry rants. Before I get to specific comments from last week's topic, I'd like to go ahead and answer some types of comments that seem to show up every week, regardless of writer, topic, or picks.

Frequently Written Hatemail

Who is this guy? What do you know about music?

I want to list my background so that you have some idea of where I'm coming from. In addition to writing for 411music and Earbuddy over the last three years, I have spent time working as a radio DJ, venue booking scout, and owned my own talent management company. I will tend to talk more about Classic Rock, Indie and Roots/Americana. Having said that, not a single one of those things makes my opinion here more important or definitive than yours. I may use a word like 'best', but it should always be taken as 'best for me'. There is no such thing as an objective 'best' in music, plus I'm too lazy to add those extra words in every paragraph. Let's try to have a little fun.

I don't know any of these artists, so they don't deserve to be on your list/The common person wouldn't know any of these artists.

I find this complaint somewhat quizzical, so I'd like to spend a little time here. First, as a reader, I appreciate it when someone discusses a musician that they love and I've never heard of. For me, that's an easy way to find out about something new I might love. Second, I think this comment represents a wholly impossible responsibility. How in the world am I supposed to know what artists you are familiar with? We live in a day and age when music is being defined by ever increasing and smaller circles of influence. With the biggest selling record of the 2011 selling a full two-thirds less than the biggest selling record of 2001, huge labels are folding on a regular basis and their stable of megastar musicians are downsizing with them. At the same time, the age of podcasts and fan groups allow us to sit completely within our own genre bubble, completely ignorant to things going on around us. I'm just as guilty of this as anyone (I still haven't listened to any record made by an American Idol alumnus). So, it is incredibly easy for any of us to have never heard of an artist that has sold millions of records. I can't possibly be expected to take that into consideration when making a list of the music that I think is best..for me. Making selections based on what I think anyone else would be familiar with is nothing short of dishonest. Third, I'm just not as 'hip' as you are giving me credit for. I defy you to find an artist I have discussed that hasn't also been covered by several other nationally-established media outlets, be it NPR, All Music Guide, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, or NME.

I think sometimes someone might make the assumption that I am attempting to be cool and lord my superior music knowledge over the masses. That really isn't my intent. I take the topic and make the most honest selections I can. If someone finds a new artist to love as a result of something I've written, that's great. If not, that's great too. Todd Snider sometimes uses a quote in concert that I love. It goes something like this, "I'm not here to change anybody's mind about nuthin'. I'm here to ease my own mind about everything."

To finish this, let's play a little word replacement game. Before you start writing that nasty comment about how this is a list full of nobodies ask yourself this. If you see a list of the 'ten best restaurants' in your hometown, do you think that author is wrong because you haven't eaten at one of them? Is an author wrong about every choice they make for a 'top ten countries to visit' list that you haven't personally visited? If you are in a conversation with a co-worker and they suggest a movie they really love, do you call them an idiot because you've never heard of it? Okay, now write the comments anyway and I'll keep ignoring them.

This list should just be called (insulting oversimplification)/I hate your mother and your stupid face...moron.

I understand we get passionate, but I really have no intention of slighting you or your taste in music on my stupid list. Here's the thing, I've done this long enough to expect these kinds of comments. Since they don't usually include what the thinking person might call "an argument", I can only assume the point is to hurt my feelings. I can assure you now that you won't. I think we can all agree that attempting to respond to that level of communication wouldn't do anyone any good, so I won't be doing that. So, you have the right to say anything you like, but it's really just a waste of your time and anger. Maybe go build something instead? An angry birdhouse is a place to put that frustration. The world needs more of those.

The Rational Arguments

You missed some classic songs:

The Beach Boys - "Carolina No"
Kool & the Gang - "Joanna"
Michael Jackson - "Dirty Diana"

-bobby

You are absolutely right about the first two, they are great songs. Now, let's talk about Michael Jackson. I have a personal axe to grind here. It has nothing to do with child molestation, drug abuse, or even Jackson being a living embodiment of American excess. It has to do with block party speakers. See, I used to live in a neighborhood of Brooklyn called Bed-Stuy (of Dave Chappelle's Block Party fame). Living in Bed-Stuy came with a variety of quirks. One of these quirks was that every house on the block, regardless of the relative poverty it existed in, seemed to have a set of outdoor PA speakers. Throughout the summer, people would break out their PA's during block parties to share their love of Jamaican Dub-step with all of their neighbors for an entire day. Now, when Michael Jackson passed away, the people of my neighborhood were somewhat upset. Part of their grieving process involved playing Michael Jackson songs at a volume that would shake house windows until roughly two in the morning for approximately six months. Being someone that had a job that involved leaving the house at five in the morning, I feel I get a lifetime pass to never listen to another Michael Jackson song for as long as I live. Do you ever hear the sound of an alarm clock on TV and immediately want to turn the channel? That's what it's like.

I guess it was disqualified since you're only looking at songs with names in the title, but I would have gone with Angel Dressed in Black by Warren Zevon. Great story about junkies in love.

Or, from the same album, Mr. Bad Example, Suzy Lightning would be a good one.

Good list regardless.

-Hawkeye

I'll get down to just about anything that has Warren Zevon's name attached to it. That guy was fantastic. It's just too bad he had to pass away before the world started giving Zevon proper credit as a great songwriter.


Only an honorable mention for "Beth?" That's just wrong. I would have put the Beach Boys' "Help Me Rhonda" and "Melissa" by the Allman Brothers on this list. -John

Did you know that KISS didn't even want to release "Beth". The original song was a straightforward rock song aggrandizing infidelity. Feeling pressure from the record label, producer Bob Ezrin completely reworked the song into a ballad and had to plead Peter Criss into recording the vocal. I don't really have an argument to make here. I just really like that story.




Let me know what's on your personal list in the comments section. Also, make sure to catch the latest columns from my colleagues at Earbuddy here on 411, like Nick Krenn's 3 R's and John Downey's Love/Hate News Report. Oh, and don't forget that other guy that writes a list column for the music section. Wyatt is his name and his list goes to Eight

No synthesizers whatsoever were used during the writing of this column.

Follow me on Twitter @ChrisBell81 and keep the conversation going on our Facebook page. Listen to these songs and more on the Spotify playlist that I have laboriously put together just for you.