Not a version of the song made famous by Jimi Hendrix but a Felice and Boudleaux Bryant country tune that Laine attacks with a joie de vivre that's as welcome as a cool wind in the arid desert that has been much of the 1953 chart to date. Welcome that is until the thrill of hearing something with a pulse dies down and you actually listen to what's on Laine's mind; you see, he's got the hots for his mate's 'purdy girly'. Apparently, she's 'a honey, she's a sugar pie' and he makes no bones that he's 'gonna try to steal her from you' because he 'gotta have that dolly for my own'. The small matter as to why his chum doesn't punch him on the nose notwithstanding, what the 'pretty little chick' in question makes of all this attention isn't recorded. And why should it be; she's just so much chattel for the boys to haggle over and such a caveman approach to courting dates 'Hey Joe' as surely as the 'Christmas morning she'll be happier with a Hoover' advert from the same year (apologies, I'm currently watching 'Mad Men' on DVD and all this seems highly prescient). In fairness, Laine's vocal comes with a wink rather than a leer and his good natured smarm almost manages to overcome the blatantly distasteful sexism on display. I say 'almost' because it doesn't really, but at the end of the day I have to give 'Hey Joe' a thumbs up of sorts - after all, if you've been wandering through the desert for weeks then you don't turn your nose up at an oasis just because a camel has pissed in it.
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