"Hey Joe" - The History of a Song

This is a group you probably never heard of doing a song you probably never remember not hearing. The Leaves were one of the hundreds of "one hit wonder" type of bands; although they never had a hit. But they did secure a place in the history of rock and roll when they released this song in 1966. It didn't get much airplay at the time. That's because it wasn't famous yet.

The Leaves picked the song assuming that it had been written by the copyrighted author of record, Dino Valenti. But in reality, Mr. Valenti, who had been in prison serving time for a drug sentence, lifted the words and music from a performance by the real author, Tim Rose, at San Quentin on January 1, 1965. It was about a year later that Mr. Rose was finally informed of this; just before he was about to record his own solo album, which would include his own version of the song.

His friend, Hillel Resner, asked his father, who was an attorney in San Francisco, what could be done about it. Mr. Resner’s father found that Mr. Valenti actually secured a contract with Third Story Music of Los Angeles. They went into immediate negotiations, and though they did recover all the loss up until that date, there are still recordings out there that are credited to Mr. Valenti, or even sometimes a third party. The song was registered for copyright in 1962 by Mr. Rose, although Scottish poet Len Partridge in Edinburgh in the late 1950’s. Some folks even insist that Mr. Rose signed the song over to him in order to help him out, but there is no real evidence of this. Some folks also attribute the song to William "Bobby" Roberts, but again, there is no hard evidence to support this claim.

Until 1964, Mr. Rose had been working with different bands, most notably with The Big Three, a folk group which included Mama Cass Elliott and a guy named James “Jimmie” Hendricks. They had a following in New York’s Greenwich Village before Mr. Rose moved on to the west coast in 1964, where he performed with a group called The Driftwood Singers, based out of San Francisco. This was the move that landed him in front of Dino Valenti in the first place. Talk about coming full circle!.

These are The Leaves, plugging away at the song on some long forgotten TV show in 1966. 

This is Tim Rose from a TV appearance in 1966 doing the song he would put on his first album "Through Rose Colored Glasses" in 1967. That was the version which Keith Richards claims to have "lent" to Linda Keith, a friend, who then took it over to her friend's house and played it for Jimi Hendrix.

And here is Jimi Hendrix in all his glory, doing "Hey Joe" live sometime in 1968, about a year after first hearing the Tim Rose version of the song from Keith Richards friend. It became his first solo recording, and launched his career.

"Against All Odds" by Eddie Ray (2012)

News Release

                                                       

Contact:  
Elyshia Brooks                                              
Kreative Group, Inc.
elyshia@ElyshiaBrooks.com
T: 800-511-5410

For Immediate Release

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—He has been called a “national treasure.”  North Carolina native, Eddie Ray, the grandson of a former slave, gives readers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the burgeoning record industry of the 1950s and early 1960s in his newly released memoir “Against All Odds—The Remarkable Life Story of Eddie Ray.” 

Ray, now in his mid-80s, started as a stock boy for Decca Records in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when he was 18 years old and eventually rose to become vice president of Capitol/Tower Records in Hollywood, California, one of the top major record companies in the U.S., the first African-American in such a decision-making role.

But prior to this top post, he was first an extraordinary record sales and promotions man whom acquaintances still describe today as having “an ear for what would sell,” and “a commercial mind.”  It was during some 60 years in the commercial music business that Ray had a significant   impact on the careers of rising stars such as Rick Nelson, Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, Ernie Freeman, Mike Curb, Irma Thomas, Ernie K-Doe, Sandy Nelson, Pink Floyd, and many others.

Ray also founded one of the first commercial music schools in the country and subsequently was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as a Commissioner of the U.S. Copyright Royalty Tribunal in Washington, DC.

 

“Against All Odds—The Remarkable Life Story of Eddie Ray” takes readers on a journey from the rural foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina to the top executive suites of the dynamic music industry of the ’50s and ’60s. The book opens with a prologue dated October 3rd 2009 at the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where Ray was one of the first inductees.   He notes that the unusual venue of the ceremony is symbolic, indicative of the out-of-the-ordinary events in his life.

Readers will immediately be drawn in from the first chapter, which doesn’t start with his childhood, but a description of his life as a tapestry with people being threads woven through his experiences.  Readers will also learn about the behind-the-scenes operations of independent record companies—hundreds of them formed after World War II, opening the recording door for many artists, especially minority performers.  And most of all they will be inspired by Ray’s courage to take risks from his young life all the way through to his current years.

Robert Williams of “Rooftop Reviews” said of the book, “It was fantastic. In understated tones, he has delivered a living portrait of a time, though long gone, which still influences us until this very day. The book is all about taking chances and trusting your instincts in order to help make your dreams come true. It's the story of a family, raised in segregation, and yet still successful by virtue of hard work.”

Baby Boomers especially will enjoy this book that will evoke feelings of nostalgia as they think back to where they were when certain songs of the early Rock and Roll era became hits.  They will be fascinated by Eddie Ray’s connection with the success of mega-stars such as Fats Domino and Rick Nelson and names they may not immediately recognize, but whose works they certainly will. 

Music historians will appreciate learning about Ray who can be added to the “untold stories” of influential African Americans.  And African Americans will be inspired by his quest to open doors, courage to break racial barriers, and audacity to ignore the status quo. Even music students will find this book enjoyable as they read about the people who laid the foundation for the music business today.

“Against All Odds—The Remarkable Life Story of Eddie Ray” will inspire, inform, and immerse readers as they peer into the personal and professional experiences of his life.

This “living history” makes the book an important autobiography in that it preserves little-known facts about an industry that has had such a tremendous impact on American culture. 

“Against All Odds—The Remarkable Life Story of Eddie Ray,” written with Barbara Jackson Hall, is approximately 200 pages and available in paperback from Amazon.com.

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Note from RT: This is the book which I reviewed here on December 5th. You can imagine how proud I am to have been included in this release, which will be going to many of the major newspapers across the country. My original review can be viewed at the following link;  

http://robertwilliamsofbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2012/12/against-all-odds-by-eddie-ray-2012.html