"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]
History
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]
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.
In 2012 the song was recorded by American bluegrass band, The Special Consensus for their album Scratch Gravel Road.
Niger's pioneer of electronic music Mamman Sani recorded an instrumental version, which is included in the compilation album Unreleased Tapes 1981-1984.[27]
The song's tune with a few slight lyric changes has been incorporated into the reggae song Roach Killer by Super Chick.[28]
The song is also covered by Clint Eastwood & General Saint in their hit song "Stop That Train", although the covered part is not to be heard until halfway into the song.
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
Bengali singer Anjan Dutt sung the song in Bengali called "Mr. Hall" in his 1997 album Keu Gaan Gaye.
Chinese
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
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
Finnish
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]
French
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.
German
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.
Hebrew
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.
Hindi
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.
Indonesian
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".
Japanese
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]
Slovenian
The Slovene singer Lado Leskovar wrote a 1965 hit based on the song titled "Poslednji vlak" (English: "The Last Train").[46]
Spanish
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]
Vietnamese
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.
^Phillips, John: Papa John. An Autobiography, Doubleday & Co. 1986, ISBN978-0440167839, p. 118
^"Five Hundred Miles / Nine Hundred Miles". Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music. Retrieved 24 March 2020. 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.
^Lankford, Ronnie D. Jr. "Act 1 - The Seldom Scene". ALLMUSIC. Retrieved 24 March 2020. bluegrass fans would not have objected to "Darling Corey" or "500 Miles"
