Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: Billy Joe Royal

Hush

First recorded by Billy Joe Royal (US #52/CAN #45 1967).
Also recorded by Kris Ife (1967).
Other hit versions by Deep Purple (US #4/UK #58/CAN #2 1968), Kula Shaker (US #19/UK #2 1997).

From the wiki: “‘Hush’ was written by Joe South (‘Games People Play’) for singer Billy Joe Royal (‘Down in the Boondocks’, also written by South; ‘Cherry Hill Park’) and was first recorded by Royal in 1967, charting modestly in the Billboard Hot 100.

“British singer Kris Ife covered ‘Hush’ in 1967 in the UK market. It was this version that inspired Deep Purple’s 1968 hit cover, recorded for their 1968 debut album Shades of Deep Purple. The track became the group’s first hit single, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #2 on the Canadian singles chart. Group member Ritchie Blackmore recalls, ‘It was a great song [which] would be a good song [for] our act, if we could come up with a different arrangement…We [recorded] the whole song in two takes.’ ‘Hush’ is one of four songs originally recorded by Deep Purple with vocals sung by Rod Evans before Ian Gillan later performed the group’s vocal leads.

Rose Garden

First recorded by Billy Joe Royal (1967).
Also recorded by Dobie Gray (US #119 1969), Joe South, writer (1969), The Three Degrees (1970), .
Hit versions by Lynn Anderson (US #3/C&W #1/UK #3 1970), Sandi Shaw (UK #57 1971).

https://youtu.be/scMVzd-wj7c

From the wiki: “‘Rose Garden’ was written by Joe South (‘Down in the Boondocks’) and first recorded by Billy Joe Royal (‘Down in the Boondocks’, ‘Hush‘) in 1967 for the album Billy Joe Royal Featuring Hush.

“Several cover versions were recorded soon thereafter (sometimes titled ‘(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden’), including productions by the writer, Joe South, Dobie Gray and The Three Degrees, before Lynn Anderson took ‘Rose Garden’ to the top of the US Country Singles chart. Anderson had wanted to record the song but her producer (and husband) Glenn Sutton felt it was a ‘man’s song’, in part because of the line ‘I could promise you things like big diamond rings’.