Brad Mehldau’s beautiful instrumental version of “Hey Joe” – a song about a man murdering a woman after she slept with someone else

In June 2019, I wrote a post on Facebook about how I didn't want to listen to Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" anymore because it is about a man murdering a woman after she slept with someone else. The post generated a heated discussion, with 137 comments. I remembed that last night when Brad Mehldau included an instrumental version of the song on solo piano in his concert at Basel's Martinskirche. Stripped of its lyrics and adorned with Mehldau's style, it was beautiful. But I also thought of how, in a Basel suburb this month, a man shot a woman and then himself – as often happens, every day, all over the world. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 16 February 2025)