The tune most identified with The Animals was not written entirely by them and yet was not a cover. House of the Rising Sun, also known as Rising Sun Blues, was a traditional folk song. Recorded versions of the song go back to the 1930s, the oldest known from Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster of Appalachia, … Read more
Song: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (1962) Artists: Joan Baez, Led Zeppelin Album: In Concert Writer: Anne Bredon When you hear Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You by Led Zeppelin, you may not realize that the song started out as a folk song. This in itself is not surprising since Led Zeppelin was heavily influenced by folk. Songs … Read more
Cracklin’ Rosie wasn’t Neil Diamond’s first hit, as a writer, that is. He first topped the charts with I’m a Believer by the Monkees. However, “Cracklin’ Rosie,” sometimes misspelled as Cracklin’ Rose, was one of the songs, if not the song, that made Neil Diamond a superstar. It reached number one October 10, 1970, spending 15 … Read more
When you hear the song In a Big Country you might think the band Irish, but Big Country was actually a Scottish group. They rose to great heights at a time when music was dominated by “new wave,” like Duran Duran, The Human League, and Thomas Dolby. They were also contemporary with the pinnacle of the … Read more
Song: The Battle of New Orleans (1958) Artist: Johnny Horton Album: The Spectacular Johnny Horton (Columbia) The Battle of New Orleans was a huge country/folk hit in 1959 for Texas-born Johnny Horton, sometimes known as the “singing fisherman.” After an already successful singing career, he had been signed to Columbia in the late 1950s and in 1957 … Read more