1940s, Country

Nobody’s Child

July 18, 2015

First recorded by Hank Snow (1949).
Hit versions by Lonnie Donegan (1956), Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers (1961 |B-side US #19/UK #29 1964), Karen Young (UK #6 1969), Hank Williams Jr. (C&W #46 1969), The Traveling Wilburys (UK #44 1990).

From the wiki: “‘Nobody’s Child’ was written by Cy Coben and Mel Foree and was first recorded by Hank Snow in 1949, becoming one of his standards although it did not chart for him. The song lyrics are about an orphan whom no one wants to adopt because he is blind, and has been covered a number of times, mostly in the UK.

“It was on Lonnie Donegan’s first album in 1956 (which went to #2 as an album in the UK). It was covered by Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers (The Beatles) in 1961 in Hamburg and was used as the B-side to both the ‘Ain’t She Sweet‘ and ‘Sweet Georgia Brown‘ singles when released in 1964 as part of Beatlemania. (Beat Brother/Beatle George Harrison would later cover ‘Nobody’s Child’ as one of the Traveling Wilburys twenty-five years later.)

Caribbean

June 28, 2015

Written and first released by Mitchell Torok with the Louisiana Hayride Band (US #26/C&W #1 1953).
Other hit version by Mitchell Torok (US #27 1957).

From the wiki: “‘Caribbean’ was written and first recorded in 1953 by Mitchell Torok. It became a Country #1 single, and also charted in the US Top 40. In 1957, Torok recorded an updated but very similarly-arranged version of ‘Caribbean’ and it again charted in the US Top 40.

I’ve Been Everywhere

December 6, 2014

First recorded by Lucky Starr (AUS #1 1962).
Other hit versions by Hank Snow (C&W #1 1962), John Hore (NZ #1 1966).
Also recorded by Johnny Cash & Tom Petty (1996), Medeski Martin and Wood, (as “Let’s Go Everywhere” 2008), Me Dow Songur (as “I Go Everywhere” 2012).

From the wiki: “‘I’ve Been Everywhere’ is a song which was written by Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959, and made popular by Lucky Starr in 1962 whose recording topped the Australian singles chart in 1966. The song (as originally written) listed Australian towns.

“Mack’s music publisher offered the song to Canadian-born country musician Hank Snow in 1962. Snow thought the song had potential for the Canadian and American markets, but only if the toponyms were adapted to North America. At his publisher’s urging, Mack consequently re-wrote the song using a North American atlas supplied to him by the publisher.

Tagged: Hank Snow