Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

Help support this site! Consider clicking an ad from time to time. Thanks!

 
« Go Back to Previous Page «  

Category: Folk

1960s, Country, Folk

Gentle On My Mind

Written and first recorded by John Hartford (1967).
Also recorded Tompall & the Glaser Brothers (1967).
Hit version by Glen Campbell (US #62/C&W #30 1967 |US #39/C&W #44/MOR #8 1968).

From the wiki: “‘Gentle On My Mind’ won two 1968 Grammy Awards. Hartford himself won the award for Best Folk Performance. The other award, Best Country & Western Solo Vocal Performance (Male), went to Country music singer Glen Campbell for his hit version of Hartford’s song.

“Hartford reported that he was inspired to write the song after seeing the film Doctor Zhivago when his own memories took over, and that it took about fifteen minutes for him to write down the music and lyrics, and he would record it in-studio on February 2, 1967 and release it on the album Earthwords & Music. Hartford would later re-record ‘Gentle On My Mind’ in 1977 for inclusion on the album All in the Name of Love.

Read more →

1950s, Folk

Iko, Iko

Written and first recorded (as “Jock-a-mo”) by Sugar Boy & His Cane Cutters (1953).
Hit versions by The Dixie Cups (US #20 1965), Dr. John (US #71 1972), The Neville Brothers (1981), Natasha (UK #10 1982), Belle Stars (UK #35 1982 |US #14 1989), BeauSoleil (1989).

From the wiki: “The song, under the original title ‘Jock-A-Mo’, was written and released as a single in 1953 by James Crawford as ‘Sugar Boy & His Cane Cutters’ that failed to make the charts. The song that tells of a parade collision between two ‘tribes’ of Mardi Gras Indians and the traditional confrontation of a ‘spy boy’ (i.e. a lookout for one band of Indians) encountering the ‘flag boy’ or guidon carrier for another ‘tribe.’ He threatens to ‘set the flag on fire.’ Crawford set phrases chanted by Mardi Gras Indians* to music for the song but himself states that he had no idea what the words meant, and that he originally sang the phrase ‘Chock-a-mo’. But, the title was misheard by Chess Records president Leonard Chess, who misspelled it on the label as ‘Jock-a-mo’ for the record’s release.

Read more →

1960s, Folk

Something in the Way She Moves

First recorded by Tom Rush (released, April 1968).
Also recorded by James Taylor (released, December 1968).
Re-recorded by James Taylor (1976).

From the wiki: “On the The Circle Game (1968), Folk musician Tom Rush covered three songs from fellow singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, one by Jackson Browne, and two James Taylor songs including ‘Something in the Way She Moves’ – that song’s first appearance. (Taylor had played the song for Rush when he visited the New York City office of Elektra Records for an audition in 1967.) The album tracks followed the cycle of a relationship from its beginning to an end, according to the lyric content and the sequencing of songs on the album. Supporting this concept is the cover shot which pictures then girlfriend Jill Lumpkin behind Tom Rush, as photographed by (future Beatle wife) Linda Eastman.

Read more →

1960s, Folk

California Dreamin’

First recorded by Barry McGuire (1965).
Hit versions by The Mamas & the Papas (US #4/UK #23 1966), José Feliciano (US #43/R&B #20 1968), America (US #56 1979), The Beach Boys (US #57/MOR #8 1986).

From the wiki: “According to John Phillips in a Bravo documentary, and Michelle Phillips in an NPR piece, the song was written in 1963 while they were living in New York. John dreamed about the song and woke Michelle up to help him write it. At the time, the Phillips were members of the folk group The New Journeymen which would evolve into the Mamas & the Papas.

“The Mamas & the Papas earned their first recording contract after being introduced to Lou Adler, the head of Dunhill Records, by Barry McGuire. In thanks to Adler and McGuire, they sang the backing vocals to McGuire’s original 1965 recording of ‘California Dreamin” (along with session musicians from The Wrecking Crew) for McGuire’s album, This Precious Time.

Read more →

1930s, Folk

La Bamba

First recorded by El Jarocho (1939).
Hit versions by Richie Valens (US #22/UK #49 1958), Los Lobos (US #1/UK #1/CAN #1/AUS #1/NZ #1/IRE #1 1987).

From the wiki: “Originally a wedding dance (from the Veracruz area), ‘La Bamba’ eventually became a standard in the Son Jarocho-style repertoire. The name of the dance, which has no direct English translation, is presumably connected with the Spanish verb bambolear, meaning ‘to shake’ or perhaps ‘to stomp’.

Read more →

1960s, Folk

Reason to Believe

Written and first recorded by Tim Hardin (1965).
Also recorded by Bobby Darin (1966), Marianne Faithful (1967).
Hit versions by Rod Stewart (as “(Find a) Reason to Believe” studio, US #62 1971), Rod Stewart (live, US #19/MOR #2/UK #51 1993).

From the wiki: ‘Reason to Believe’ is a song written and first recorded by American folk singer Tim Hardin in 1965. After having had his recording contract terminated by Columbia Records, after refusing to release an album of material he had recorded for them, Hardin achieved some success in the 1960s as a songwriter based in Greenwich Village. The original recording of ‘Reason to Believe’ comes from Hardin’s first authorized debut album, released on Verve Records, Tim Hardin 1, recorded in 1965 and issued in 1966 when he was 25.

Read more →

1930s, Folk

Goodnight, Irene

First released by Lead Belly (1933).
Hit version by The Weavers (US #1 1950).

From the wiki: “Lead Belly was singing a version of the song from as early as 1908, which he claimed to have learned from his uncles Terell and Bob. An 1886 song by Gussie L. Davis has several lyrical and structural similarities to the latter song, however no information on its melody has survived. Some evidence suggests the 1886 song was itself based on an even earlier song which has not survived. Regardless of where he first heard it, by the 1930s Lead Belly had made the song his own, modifying the rhythm and rewriting most of the verses.

Read more →

1950s, Folk

Freight Train

First popular version recorded by The Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group (US #40/UK #5 1957).
Other popular versions by Rusty Draper (US #3 1957), Elizabeth Cotten, writer (1958), Peter, Paul & Mary (1963).

From the wiki: “‘Freight Train’ is an American folk song written by Elizabeth Cotten in the early 20th century, and popularized during the American folk revival and British skiffle period of the 1950s and 1960s. By Cotten’s own account in the 1985 BBC series Down Home, she composed ‘Freight Train’ as a teenager (sometime between 1906 and 1912), inspired by the sound of the trains rolling in on the tracks near her home in North Carolina.

“Cotten was a one-time nanny for folk singer Peggy Seeger, who took this song with her to England where it became popular in folk music circles. British songwriters Paul James and Fred Williams subsequently misappropriated it as their own composition and copyrighted it. Under their credit, it was then recorded by British skiffle singer Chas McDevitt, who recorded the song in December, 1956. The record became a hit in the UK in 1957 at the height of the skiffle boom, reaching #5 in the UK Singles Chart.

Read more →

1960s, Folk

Leaving On a Jet Plane

 • 1 Comment

First recorded (as “Babe, I Hate to Go”) by John Denver (1966).
First broadcast (as “Babe, I Hate to Go”) by John Denver on WAVA-FM’s Hootenanny at The Cellar Door (1966).
Hit version by Peter, Paul & Mary (recorded 1967 |US #1/MOR #1/UK #2/CAN #1/IRE #2 1969 single release).
Also recorded by The Mitchell Trio (1967), Spanky & Our Gang (1967), John Denver (1969 |1973).

From the wiki: “Chad Mitchell left his trio in 1965 to embark on a solo singing career. An audition process that followed, and which saw 300 musicians try-out, replaced Mitchell with the young (and unknown) singer-songwriter John Denver. The group retained the well-known ‘Mitchell Trio’ name – with Denver writing some of the group’s songs, including ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ (found on The Mitchell Trio’s 1967 album Alive!). The song was first recorded in 1966 by John Denver with the title ‘Babe, I Hate to Go’. He remembers composing the song in 1966 during a layover at Washington airport, ‘Not so much from feeling that way for someone, but from the longing of having someone to love.’

“A year earlier, in 1966, ‘Babe, I Hate to Go’ was among fifteen songs Denver recorded himself and, with his own money, had 250 copies pressed onto vinyl and distributed to friends and family. Later that year, while engaged to perform at The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., Denver performed the song on a live radio broadcast on WAVA-FM, hosted by disc-jockey Dick Cerri for his program Hootenanny, where Denver was backed by fellow Trio guitarist, Bob Hefferan (and handled a heckler in the audience). It was John’s second time singing the song in public and the first radio broadcast of it.

Read more →

1930s, Folk

The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)

 • 4 Comments

Written and first recorded (as “Mbube”) by Solomon Linda’s Original Evening Birds (1939).
Hit versions by The Weavers (as ‘Wimoweh’ US #6 1951), The Tokens (US #1 1961), Tight Fit (UK #1 1982).

From the wiki: “‘Mbube’ (Zulu: lion) was written in the 1920s by Solomon Linda, a South African singer of Zulu origin, who worked for the Gallo Record Company as a cleaner and record packer, and who performed with a choir, The Evening Birds.

Read more →

1960s, Folk

Mr. Bojangles

Written and first released by Jerry Jeff Walker (US #77 1968).
Other hit version by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (US #9/MOR #10/CAN #9/NZ #2 1970), Nina Simone (UK #96 1988).
Also recorded by David Bromberg (1973), Sammy Davis Jr. (1972).

From the wiki: “Jerry Jeff Walker has said he was inspired to write the song after an encounter with a street performer in a New Orleans jail and that the song does not refer to the famous stage and movie personality Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson. Rather, Walker said while in jail for public intoxication in 1965 he met a homeless white man who called himself ‘Mr. Bojangles’ to conceal his true identity from the police.

“The two men and others in the cell chatted about all manner of things, but when Mr. Bojangles told a story about his dog, the mood in the room turned heavy. Someone else in the cell asked for something to lighten the mood, and Mr. Bojangles obliged with a tap dance.

Read more →