Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: Glenn Yarbrough

All My Trials (All My Sorrows)

First recorded as “All My Trials” by Cynthia Gooding (1956).
Popular versions by Glenn Yarbrough (as “All My Sorrows” 1957), Kingston Trio (as “All My Sorrows” 1959), Joan Baez (as “All My Trials” 1960), The Shadows (as “All My Sorrows” 1963), The Searchers (as “All My Sorrows” 1963), Peter Paul & Mary (as “All My Trials” 1963), Dick & Dee Dee (as “All My Trials” US #89 1964).
Also recorded (in medley) by Elvis Presley (1972).

From the wiki: “”All My Trials” is a folk song during the social protest movements of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on a Bahamian lullaby that tells the story of a mother on her death bed, comforting her children. The message — that no matter how bleak the situation seemed, the struggle would ‘soon be over’ — propelled the song to the status of an anthem, recorded by many of the leading artists of the era.

“Cynthia Gooding first recorded the song in 1956. It quickly became a Folk song staple, with recordings by Glenn Yarbrough (1957), The Kingston Trio (1959), and Joan Baez (1960) following soon thereafter. (Gooding would later go on to host a Folk music show on NYC radio station WBAI and, in 1962, would conduct the first radio interview, ever, with a young Bob Dylan.) In the UK, Cliff Richard’s backing band, The Shadows, recorded an instrumental cover of ‘All My Sorrows’ in 1961 for their first solo outing, The Shadows; The Searchers would also cover the song in 1963 for the album Sugar and Spice.

“Folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary released ‘All My Trials’ on their best-selling 1963 album, In the Wind, from which yielded the hit singles ‘Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)‘ and ‘Blowin’ in the Wind‘. But, Dick & Dee Dee’s 1964 recording of ‘All My Trials’ is the only arrangement to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

“A fragment of ‘All My Trials’ is used in the Mickey Newbury anthem ‘An American Trilogy’, also recorded by Elvis Presley and broadcast worldwide in 1972 on Aloha from Hawaii.”

Baby the Rain Must Fall

First recorded by The We Three Trio (1964).
Hit version by Glen Yarbrough (US #12/MOR #2 1965).
Also recorded by Chris Connor (1965).

From the wiki: “‘Baby the Rain Must Fall’ was written by film score composer Elmer Bernstein (‘The Magnificent Seven’) and Ernie Sheldon, and was first performed and recorded by The We Three Trio for the motion-picture Baby the Rain Must Fall where it was heard during the opening credits.

“The song was later covered by Glenn Yarbrough for his 1965 album Baby the Rain Must Fall, with an arrangement by future Bread founder David ‘Dave’ Gates. ‘Baby the Rain Must Fall’ was also covered in 1965 by Chris Connor, who included it on her album of pop song covers performed pseudo-bossa nova, Chris Connor Sings Gentle Bossa Nova.”

House of the Rising Sun

First recorded (as “Rising Sun Blues”) by Clarence “Tom” Ashley and Gwen Foster (1933).
Also recorded by Woody Guthrie (1941), Lead Belly (1944 |1948), Josh White (1947), Glenn Yarbrough (1957), Pete Seeger (1958), Andy Griffith (1959), Miriam Makeba (1960).
Hit versions by The Animals (US #1/UK #1/CAN #1/AUS #2/GER #10/SWE #4 1964), Frijid Pink (US #7/UK #4 1970).

From the wiki: “Like many classic folk ballads, the authorship of ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ is uncertain. Musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads such as The Unfortunate Rake of the 18th century and that English emigrants took the song to America where it was adapted to its later New Orleans setting. Alan Price of The Animals has even claimed that the song was originally a sixteenth-century English folk song about a Soho brothel.