“Gotta’ Travel On” Was Early Cross Over Hit

The song “Gotta’ Travel On,” written by by Billy Wayne Grammer (August 28, 1925 – August 10, 2011), is perhaps among the most renown songs in modern recorded history, and for good reason. It was one of the very first songs to have ever had broad “crossover” appeal.

The song’s melody is a traditional one, and the lyrics are thought to be based on a fragment of an unnamed song found in the archives of the Virginia Folklore Society entitled “Done Laid Around,” though there are versions of the song with the same title which typically use a different set of stanzas.

February 22, 1958, Pete Seeger became the first musician to have recorded it and the lyrics with which most are now familiar – which were written by Paul Clayton, David Lazar, Larry Ehrlich, Fred Hellerman, Pete Seeger, and Lee Hays. The BMI Award Winning Song is BMI Work #503008 in the repertoire, and is 100% controlled by BMI.

Pete Seeger performs “Gotta Travel On”

It was only very shortly thereafter, in 1959, when Billy Wayne Grammer recorded and released that song, that it charted on the Country (ranking 5th), Pop (ranking 4th) AND R&B (ranking 14th) music charts! That was no small feat! While not the very first such crossover song,”Gotta’ Travel On” was certainly one of the first. And in the years since, many songs have increased popularity among wider audiences by artists whose interpretations have brought nuance, and even complete change to a song.

Of the numerous musicians have since lent their interpretations to, and re-recorded “Gotta’ Travel On,” which include musical luminaries such as

Cussin’ in the kitchen and other ignominies

Regular readers of this blog will acknowledge that, while there are many subjects about which I write and opine, the entries wherein I write about myself are rare, exceedingly so. That is upon purpose. As I have written in the front page This blog is about… “What you won’t find here are observations about my personal life. I won’t – and typically don’t – write about my relationships with my family or friends.”

As I now see, Zemanta has suggested the following tags: “profanity,” “politics,” “Mark Twain,” “health,” “Satan,” “Oh Hell,” “fuck,” and “shit”.

How quaintly appropriate.

There are a few omissions.

However, I shall spare you kind readers those blue notes.

As astute observers have read, I am a native Southerner. I take some degree of pride in that fact. That means, that by default, I stand with such historical greats, notables and traditions as: