On Wednesday, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) picked up a guitar and performed a protest version of “Hey Joe,” the Jimi Hendrix classic, rewriting the lyrics to cast Donald Trump as a gun-wielding threat to democracy.
In a clip shared online, Johnson began with a light warning to viewers: “I hate to hurt your ears and everything.” He followed with brief remarks before launching into his rewritten version of “Hey Joe.” He said, “It happens to be Black Music Month of 2025. I’m compelled with a new guitar and with some thoughts about that old song ‘Hey Joe’ to give some commentary on where we are now.”
While Johnson performed the song as part of a Black Music Month tribute, “Hey Joe” was originally written by Billy Roberts, a white folk musician, before being popularized by Hendrix.
Before playing, he added, “I’m gonna just strum a little bit. Please don’t hold it against me.”
Johnson changed the lyrics to the following:
Hey Trump, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?
Hey Trump, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?
I’m goin’ down the street to shoot down democracy.
You know, I want to be a king someday.
I’m goin’ down and shoot democracy down.
You know, I wanna be the king someday.
Hey, Donald Trump, we won’t let you take our democracy down
Take it down to the ground.
Hey, Trump, we won’t let you take our democracy down,
Burn it down to the ground.
Johnson has previously gone viral for unusual remarks, including a 2010 warning that the island of Guam might “tip over and capsize” if too many people lived on it, and a 2023 speech in which he asked Americans to “imagine a world without balloons.”
