(Bill Giant - Bernie Baum - Florence Kaye [from traditional song])
Australia
#10 Perth
Single on His Master’s Voice by Perth band formed in 1964 by Terry Walker (vocals, guitar), Tony Tyler (guitar), and Jim Sheridan (drums). The Who’s Who of Australian Rock (2002) lists several other members.
Walker had played guitar in Ray Hoff & The Offbeats 1960-62. Tyler and Sheridan had been foundation members of The Hi-Five from 1957, with Walker joining in 1962.
In 1965 The Times drove across South Africa in a “clapped-out” rented Ford Cortina from Johannesberg, ending up in Port Elizabeth. They worked their way over and back by performing on the ship.
Terry Walker returned to The Hi-Five on guitar in 1966, sharing lead vocals with Glen Ingram (see Skye Boat Song). He later joined top Melbourne band The Strangers when they were at their late-60s peak (see Happy Without You, 1968). He is also the lead singer on Love Machine (1968), a hit by studio band Pastoral Symphony.
For more about The Times’ South African adventure, plus Terry Walker’s activity after the 60s beat boom, see Ray Van Ross’s 2018 interview with all three of The Times YouTube.
See also the B-side Just Another Guy.
The Times also charted in Perth with Glad Not Sad (1965, #6, written by Terry Walker) and Every Window In The City (1966, #46, original version by Jerry Cole, 1965).
References: 1. Murray Gracie & John Mills (eds), Jive, Twist and Stomp, WA Rock & Roll Bands of the 50s and 60s (2010). 2. Ray Van Ross’s 2018 interview with The Times, linked above. 3. Chris Spencer et al, Who’s Who of Australian Rock, 5th edition (2002), p.405.
(Bill Giant - Bernie Baum - Florence Kaye [from traditional song])
USA
Original version with these lyrics
On album Kissin' Cousins (Original Soundtrack Recording).
The melody is from Shenandoah, a traditional song.
Giant, Baum & Kaye wrote over 40 songs for Elvis Presley. The best known are probably (You're The) Devil In Disguise (1963, #3 USA) and Kissin' Cousins (1964, #29). The others may be more familiar to aficionados of Elvis's films, where most of the team's compositions for him appeared.
Not familiar with Elvis Presley? Welcome to Planet Earth! You can catch up here.
Reference, further reading: List of Giant-Baum-Kaye songs written for Elvis Presley at fansite elvis.net.
American folk song also known as Oh Shenandoah or Across The Wide Missouri.
Shenandoah's origins are complicated and much discussed. There are long (and inconclusive) threads about it at MudCat Cafe, the folk music site. As Barry Finn wrote in one such thread, It's been claimed as a river song, a sea shanty, a US Army song & by the cavalry & wagon soldiers, a song of the Canadian & American mountain men, traders, voyageurs & trappers. Others have noted African-American shipworkers singing it in the late 1800s.
A common lyric to the song tells of a boatman, a trader of the Missouri River, who falls in love with the daughter of Chief Shenandoah (1710-1816), the renowned leader of the Oneida Indian Nation. Whatever its origin, it became a shanty, a sailors' song, on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and on to the sea.
Oh Shenandoah, / I love your daughter, / Away, you rolling river. /
For her I'd cross / Your roaming waters, / Away, I'm bound away /
'Cross the wide Missouri.
Further reading: 1. David Cheal, "Shenandoah – a song steeped in history and mystery", Financial Times, 9 October 2017. 2. Chief Shenandoah at the Oneida Indian Nation website.
There are numerous recordings of Shenandoah. I have collected just a few in a Spotify playlist:
(Halsey K. Mohr)
USA
Red herring
SAME TITLE BUT NOT THE SOURCE OF
‘TENDER FEELING’ BY THE TIMES.
A Victor recording. Library and Archives Canada has an mp3 recording at this page.
It is not the same as the well-known traditional song recorded by Paul Robeson and others, in spite of what you may read elsewhere.
(Traditional)
USA
Influential version
Early, well-known recording by gifted and charismatic African-American singer, actor, scholar, athlete, orator, and activist (1898-1976).
Victor recording, 78 rpm release on HMV, #8438.
Reference, further reading: Elvis Presley: The Originals curator David Neale's informed comments on 'Shenandoah' and 'Tender Feeling' at this page.
(Traditional, arr. Terry)
UK
Original recorded version?
78 rpm disc on His Master's Voice.
So far this is the earliest verified recording of the song.
Thanks to Walt at SecondHand Songs and David Neale at Elvis Presley: The Originals for research and discussion.
A 1905 release of Shenandoah by the Minster Singers of London, on a set of sea shanties (Victor 61145-61148), could well be the same song, but that is difficult to verify.
See this 2011 post by 'Desert Dancer' at the Mudcat forum.
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