"500 Miles" (also known as "500 Miles Away from Home" or "Railroaders' Lament") is a song made popular in the United States and Europe during the 1960s folk revival. The simple repetitive lyrics offer a lament by a traveler who is far from home, out of money and too ashamed to return. In a May 1963 interview on Folk Music Worldwide, Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary characterized the song, which appeared on the group's 1962 debut album, as "a reflection of loneliness." [1]
The song is generally credited as being written by Hedy West, [2] [3] and a 1961 copyright is held by Atzal Music, Inc. [2] "500 Miles" is West's "most anthologized song". [4] Some recordings have also credited Curly Williams, or John Phillips as co-writers, [5] although Phillips admitted he had only rearranged it and "didn't deserve the credit". [6] David Neale writes that "500 Miles" may be related to the older folk song "900 Miles" (Roud 4959), [7] which may itself have origins in the Southern American fiddle tunes "Reuben's Train" and "Train 45". [5] [8] Johnny Cash is known to have included "500 Miles" on his list of 100 essential country songs in the early 1970s. [9]
Folklorist Norm Cohen writes that 900 miles, rather than 500, is the most common distance referenced in versions of the traditional song, but other distances including 400 miles and 10,000 miles also appear. [8]
The melody of "500 Miles" is very close to that of “You’ll Never Miss Your Mother Till She’s Gone", written by Harry Birch, an alias of Charles A White, and published by White, Smith, and Company of Boston, Massachusetts in 1885. [10] Both "You'll Never Miss Your Mother Till She's Gone" and "900 Miles" were first recorded by Fiddlin' John Carson in 1923-4. [11]
"500 Miles Away From Home" | ||||
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Single by Bobby Bare | ||||
from the album 500 Miles Away From Home | ||||
B-side | "It All Depends on Linda" | |||
Released | September 1963 | |||
Genre | Countrypolitan [12] | |||
Label | RCA Victor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Hedy West | |||
Producer(s) | Chet Atkins | |||
Bobby Bare singles chronology | ||||
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The most commercially successful version of the song was Bobby Bare's in 1963. His version became a Top 10 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, as well as a Top 5 hit on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts.
Weekly charts
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This section needs additional citations for verification .(August 2017) |
Jayanta Hazarika sang in Assamese "Ketiyaba Bejarote"(English: Sometimes when in grief) in 1962. Again, in 2018, Zubeen Garg sang "Kot Mur Maa" (English: Where’s my mom) for a drama of Aawahan Mobile Theatre group.
Bengali singer Anjan Dutt sung the song in Bengali called "Mr. Hall" in his 1997 album Keu Gaan Gaye .
In 2017, a Chinese adaptation of the song called "别送我" (English: "Don't send me off") was released on the soundtrack of Duckweed and sung by Chen Hongyu, Su Zixu, Liu Hao Lin, and Han Luo.[ citation needed ]
Czech version was recorded in 1967 as "Tisíc mil" (English: "Thousand Miles") with the lyrics by Ivo Fischer, sung as a duet by Waldemar Matuška and Helena Vondráčková. [34] and other version 500 mil performed by Rangers-Plavci
In Finnish, the song has been recorded under at least five different scorded yet again, by Jukka Raitanen. This time it was called "Liian kaukana" (English: "Too Far Away"). Lyrics were written by Raul Reiman. This song was released on Raitanen's album Yölinjalla. "Yölinjalla(in)" song is a Finnish version of the song "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. [35]
Moreover, "500 Miles" has also been released with religious content under the name "Lapsuuden usko" (English: "Childhood Faith"), with lyrics by Matti Nyberg. This version has been recorded at least three times: 1973, 2005 and 2011. [36] It was released by a parish singer group Dominicones in 1973. [37] In 2005 it was recorded by actor and singer Mikko Leppilampi. The song was released on album "Tilkkutäkki" (English: "Quilt", by various artists), and targeted to people who want to nostalgize the time of their confirmation on Lutheran church. [38] [39] In 2011 it was recorded by Petrus (real name Petri Kokko, born 1970) in his album Enkelten laulut (English: "The Songs of Angels"). [40]
The song was adapted by lyricist Jacques Plante under the title Et j'entends siffler le train (English: "I Hear the Whistle of the Train"). It was sung by Richard Anthony, who had a hit with it. [41] His recording reached number-one in France in 1962. According to Richard Anthony, the song struck a chord with young French soldiers who were leaving for the Algerian War.
Hugues Aufray also sang it, but his version was not as successfull. Anthony's version was covered by Franco Battiato on his 1999 album Fleurs. In 2011, Hugues Aufray rerecorded the song in a duet with Françoise Hardy on his album Troubadour since 1948.
In 1963 a German version, "Und dein Zug fährt durch die Nacht" (English: "And Your Train Goes Through the Night"), was a success for Peter Beil. Also in German, Santiano in 2012 released a marine-themed version, "500 Meilen", on their album Bis ans Ende der Welt.
There is a Hebrew version by Aviva Marks called, "500 מייל" in 1966. The meaning of the name is "500 mile", and it came part of her album Sweeter than Wine ("מתוק מיין"). The song is mostly translation to Hebrew.
Indian composer Rajesh Roshan used the tune to compose song 'Jab Koyi Baat Bigad Jaaye' (English: "When Things Go Wrong") [42] [43] [44] in 1990's movie Jurm .
The tune of this song has been used in religious contents in Indonesia, in the widely popular book of songs and praise for Catholics in Indonesia, "Madah Bakti", song #366 "Ya Tuhan Kami Datang".
The Japanese duo Wink included it as the B-side of their 1989 single 淋しい熱帯魚 ( Samishii Nettaigyo ), under the title 背中 まで 500 マイル (Senaka Made 500 Mairu; 500 Miles Back).[ citation needed ] In 2018, Japanese singer Kiyoe Yoshioka sang a Japanese version of the song, "500 Mairu" (500マイル) on her debut album Uta Iro. [45]
The Slovene singer Lado Leskovar wrote a 1965 hit based on the song titled "Poslednji vlak" (English: "The Last Train"). [46]
Costa Rican rock band Los Rufos recorded a Spanish version under the title "500 Millas" in 1967. [47] A similar version was recorded by the Nicaraguan band Los Rockets. [48]
There are two versions in Vietnamese. One is "Tiễn em lần cuối" ("Send You Off for the Last Time") sung by Trung Hanh, another one is "Người tình ngàn dặm" ("Thousands-mile-away Lover") sung by Ngọc Lan.
Peter, Paul & Mary's version of the song was used in the following:
Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers. The group's repertoire included songs written by Yarrow and Stookey, early songs by Bob Dylan, and covers of other folk musicians.
"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional English ballad. The song lists a number of impossible tasks given to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The "Scarborough/Whittingham Fair" variant was most common in Yorkshire and Northumbria, where it was sung to various melodies, often using Dorian mode, with refrains resembling "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" and "Then she'll be a true love of mine." It appears in Traditional Tunes (1891) by Frank Kidson, who claims to have collected it from Whitby.
"Bella ciao" is an Italian song dedicated to the partisans of the Italian resistance, which fought against the occupying troops of Germany and the collaborationist Fascist forces during the liberation of Italy. It was based on a folk song of the late 19th century, sung by female workers of the paddy fields in Northern Italy (mondine) in protest against harsh working conditions. Versions of "Bella ciao" continue to be sung worldwide as a hymn of resistance.
"Moon River" is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song also won the 1962 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. In 1999, Mancini's recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"The Song from Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart)" is a popular song set to a melody that appeared in the 1952 film Moulin Rouge. It became a No. 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart when recorded by Mantovani. The music for the film was written by Georges Auric; the original French lyrics were by Jacques Larue, with the English words by William Engvick. The Auric-Engvick song was published in 1953.
"I Really Don't Want to Know" is a popular song written by Don Robertson (music) Howard Barnes (lyrics). The song was published in 1953.
"Lullaby of Broadway" is a popular song with music written by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, published in 1935. The lyrics salute the nightlife of Broadway and its denizens, who "don't sleep tight until the dawn."
"If I Had a Hammer " is a protest song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. It was written in 1949 in support of the Progressive movement, and was first recorded by the Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. It was a #10 hit for Peter, Paul and Mary in 1962 and then went to #3 a year later when recorded by Trini Lopez in 1963. In a May 1963 interview on Folk Music Worldwide, Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary characterized the song as "a young national anthem for the United States."
"On Top of Old Smoky" is a traditional folk song of the United States. As recorded by the Weavers, the song reached the pop music charts in 1951. It is catalogued as Roud Folk Song Index No. 414.
"Red River Valley" is a folk song and cowboy music standard of uncertain origins that has gone by different names, depending on where it has been sung. It is listed as Roud Folk Song Index 756 and by Edith Fowke as FO 13. It is recognizable by its chorus :
Hedwig Grace "Hedy" West was an American folksinger, songwriter and song catcher. She belonged to the same generation of folk revivalists as Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Carolyn Hester. Her most famous song "500 Miles" is one of America's most popular folk songs. English folk musician A. L. Lloyd declared West to be "far and away the best of [the] American girl singers in the [folk] revival."
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962 and released the following year on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and as the B-side of the single "Blowin' in the Wind". The song has been covered by several other artists, including Waylon Jennings in 1964, Susan Tedeschi, Emilie-Claire Barlow in her 2010 album The Beat Goes On and Peter, Paul and Mary, who released it as a single, which reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
"Man of Constant Sorrow" is a traditional American folk song first published by Dick Burnett, a partially blind fiddler from Kentucky. It was titled "Farewell Song" in a songbook by Burnett dated to around 1913. A version recorded by Emry Arthur in 1928 gave the song its current titles.
"Sloop John B" is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription was published in 1916 by Richard Le Gallienne, and Carl Sandburg included a version in his The American Songbag in 1927. There have been many recordings of the song since the early 1950s, with variant titles including "I Want to Go Home" and "Wreck of the John B".
Peter, Paul and Mary is the debut studio album by American folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in May 1962 on Warner Bros. Records. Released in both mono and stereo on catalog no. 1449, it is one of the rare folk albums to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart in the US, where it remained for over a month. The lead-off singles "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree" reached numbers 10 and 35 respectively on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. It was the group's biggest selling studio album, eventually certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. sales of more than two million copies.
"I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)" is a popular song with music by Fred E. Ahlert and lyrics by Roy Turk that was published in 1928. Versions by Nick Lucas, Aileen Stanley and, most successfully, Ruth Etting, all charted in America in 1929.
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a folk song written by American singer-songwriter Pete Seeger in 1955. Inspired lyrically by the traditional Cossack folk song "Koloda-Duda", Seeger borrowed an Irish melody for the music, and published the first three verses in Sing Out! magazine. Additional verses were added in May 1960 by Joe Hickerson, who turned it into a circular song. Its rhetorical "where?" and meditation on death place the song in the ubi sunt tradition. In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the "Top 20 Political Songs".
"The Windmills of Your Mind" is a song with music by French composer Michel Legrand and English lyrics written by American lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. French lyrics, under the title "Les Moulins de mon cœur", were written by Eddy Marnay. It was originally recorded by the English actor Noel Harrison in 1968.
"Choucoune" is a 19th-century Haitian song composed by Michel Mauléart Monton with lyrics from a poem by Oswald Durand. It was rewritten with English lyrics in the 20th century as "Yellow Bird". Exotica musician Arthur Lyman made the song a hit in 1961.
"Cuando calienta el sol" is a popular Spanish language song originally composed as "Cuando calienta el sol en Masachapa", Masachapa being a coastal town in Nicaragua. The music was written by Rafael Gaston Perez, a Nicaraguan songwriter and bandleader. SADAIC also credits the Argentine composer Carlos Albert Martinoli.
Nine Hundred Miles is a lament of a traveller far from home that is from the beginning of the last century or earlier. Hedy West rewrote this song as Five Hundred Miles with a different tune but several overlapping verses.
John Duffey's whispery tenor graces ... 500 Miles
bluegrass fans would not have objected to "Darling Corey" or "500 Miles"