Joe South | Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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’.

First recorded by The Sensational Epics (1968).
Hit versions by The Tams (US #61/R&B #26 1968 |UK #32 1970), Sonia (UK #22 1991 |MOR #13 1992).
Also recorded by Booker T. & the MGs (1968), The Gentle Touch (1968).

From the wiki: “‘Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy’, co-written by Ray Robert Whitley and J.R. Cobb (‘Spooky‘, ‘Do It or Die’), was first recorded by The Sensational Epics in 1968.

“The Sensational Epics were formed in 1963 as a five-piece group based in Columbia, South Carolina, at first playing primarily for high school and college fraternity & sorority functions, performing what became now known as Carolina ‘Beach Music’. The group’s first national release on Cameo was ‘I’ve Been Hurt’. In 1968, the group recorded “Be Young …”, produced by co-writer Whitley for Warner Bros. Records, with no apparent chart success.

Tagged: Joe South

1960s, Country

Rose Garden

April 2, 2015

1960s, Soul

Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy

December 12, 2014