#iladri The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe That is: "how Jimi became a #thief without knowing it" (this is good
@[G], you'll see, there's enough material for half a show...)
When Jimmie records it, he credits it as a "standard", meaning it's common property, no one knows who owns it, a popular piece, nobody to credit the rights to...
And he really believes it, you know! After all, the story of Joe who takes out his woman with a knife appears in a lot of ballads...
However, this song was composed by a certain Billy Roberts in 1962. Billy (luckily for him) also registered it (sure, it’s based on some standards, but it’s his), performs it at a few concerts, then forgets about it and continues his career as a bluesman.
In short, Billy is not a star but works, and they call him around to play.
On New Year's Day 1965, Billy participates in a nice concert at San Quentin with Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Cash, and others. On that occasion, the singer Dino Valenti should have also been present.
Anyway, Dino hears that piece and is blown away.
Now, who is Dino Valenti (or Dino Valente, or Chet Powers, or Jesse Oris Farrow...)? It would take a book to tell it. The magnificent loser, the greatest loser there is, a man who has missed every train that has passed him by, someone who could have become rich and famous countless times, a genius who left behind a wonderful and obscure record (and much more), his own worst enemy...
Fortunately, here on DeB, there are those who have been able to tell it better than I can (yes, our King of the Constipated, dear
@[imasoulman])
Dino Valente - Dino Valenti - Recensione di imasoulman
So Dino "takes" that piece and decides it's his, and one day he sells it for a few bucks (to buy a dose) on the promise of not performing it or recording it.
The guy who buys it (I can't remember who it is right now, I'll try to jog my memory...) makes that piece circulate.
In '65, a California group, the Leaves, records it and makes some money thinking it's a standard. Billy Roberts hears it purely by chance on the radio and nearly has a heart attack; he calls a lawyer friend and begins a lawsuit to have his rights recognized.
In the meantime, the guy whose name I can't recall gets the song into Jimi's hands, but he doesn’t mention Dino Valenti (nor Billy Roberts, of whom he knows nothing).
So Jimi records it as a standard.
Dino will try to get some money and have himself credited as the "true" author of Hendrix's masterpiece, convinced that Billy cannot say otherwise. However, Billy (who knows nothing of what is happening, and knows Jimi Hendrix even less) wins the lawsuit and finds himself, without knowing how or why, with a nice little sum that will allow him a decent old age, despite a series of ailments.
Dino will die very poor and (almost) forgotten. Among other things, one of his pieces "Let's Get Together" that he sold to the future Jefferson A...
