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This catchy rocker from Kings of Leon’s full-length debut is one of them love-trianle murder ballads, basically the same as “Hey Joe” and the other awesome 10,000 songs just like it. But also notable, it was written prophetically by the brothers Followill a few years ago to describe how “Joe the Plumber” would feel after 24 hours in the unforgiving media fishbowl, during which he was outed for being a tax-evading unlicensed plumber: “Blistered cracked and bleeding / Cold no one should know / Rain falls down a freezing / And sticking like a snow / Lingering suspicions / Screaming in my head / Lies all mixed up with omissions / Welcome home again / It’s too late for apologies they're falling at my feet.” 

 

“Table Top Joe” - Tom Waits 

Tom Waits gets all Louis Armstrong on this ragtime-y Joe tune about a body-less circus freak, a mean ol’ world and salvation through music. 

 

“Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe” - Sarah Vaughan 

Complete with a dreamy old-school string intro and Ms. Vaughan’s unmistakable voice, this one really takes plumber Joe back to sittin’ on his grandma’s knee as she rocked him back and forth and whisper-sang this classy standard to him while he frolicked playfully in his Johnny Jump Up, tucked snugly into bright red footie pajamas, dreaming of someday living in an America where all these damn silly socialists in Washington would just get the hell off his back already.  

 

Other Great Joe Songs to check out: 

“Lookout Joe” - Neil Young 

“Uncle Joe” - Red House Painters 

“Old Joe Clark” - The Avett Brothers 

“Joe Hill” - Joan Baez 

“Shoeless Joe” - Aquarium Rescue Unit 

“Mighty Joe Moon” - Grant Lee Buffalo 

“Joseph and Alexander” - Of Montreal 

“Little Joe” - The Carter Family 

“Old Joe” - Widespread Panic 

“Soapstar Joe” - Liz Phair 

“Joseph Campbell” - Warm in the Wake 

“Joe Stalin’s Cadillac” - Camper Van Beethoven 

“Joe Avery’s Piece” - Harry Connick Jr. 

“Joe McCarthy’s Ghost” - The Minutemen