Tag: Walk Don't Run

Max Picks …songs from 1960

1960

Here we are in a new decade that will make a huge dent in 20th-century culture. This decade will change the world from the black and white 1950s into technicolor with tragedy, freedom, generation gaps, and thoughts of change that are still felt…both good and bad. Music is filled with safe artists…not many edgy artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Even Elvis was safe now and he became Cliff Richard a movie star. Rock and Roll had temporarily lost its bite. There was still some great music as we see below.

Let’s start off with those sweet harmonies by the Everly Brothers. Cathy’s Clown which was huge this year. It was written by Don Everly.

Ok, let’s get a driving voice in this look at 1960. Here is the one and only Wanda Jackson with Let’s Have A Party. It was written by Jessie Mae Robinson.

Instrumentals were huge through the 1950s and 60s. They gradually wound down through the decades. I’ve always liked instrumentals because it’s not as easy as writing songs with lyrics. It’s almost like a silent movie…you try to get the point across without words… just painting with music. Here is one of the best-known instrumental bands ever…The Ventures with Walk Don’t Run. They also released a version four years later but we will go with the 1960 version. It was written by Johnny Smith. He was a jazz guitarist who wrote this back in 1954. This guitar sound lent itself to beach music that was just around the corner in becoming popular.

Roy Orbison and Joe Melson wrote Only the Lonely, which they tried to sell to Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers. Both of them turned him down so Orbison did the song himself thank goodness. His voice was truly unique and one of a kind. Here is Roy singing Only The Lonely.

The Shirelles released this song in November of 1960. The song is beautiful and it was written by the husband and wife duo of Gerry Goffin and Carole King.

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Ventures – Walk Don’t Run

Walk Don’t Run is one of my favorite instrumentals right along Sleep Walk, Green Onions, and a few others. When I learned to play this on guitar, I was on cloud nine. Johnny Smith wrote this song and was the first one to record it. Chet Atkins along with many artists covered this but the song is best remembered by The Ventures.

This song got a push in The Ventures native Seattle when a local radio DJ used it to lead into every newscast. The Ventures first released this song in 1960 and it peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100. After this song, it kicked their career in high gear. The band had 14 singles in the Billboard Hot 100. With over 100 million records sold, the Ventures are the best-selling instrumental band of all time.

Numerous musicians credit the Ventures with helping them learn their instrument, including Anthrax, the B-52s, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Dire Straits, Dave Edmunds, Adam Ant, Mick Fleetwood, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Johnny Ramone, Jello Biafra, Keith Moon, Gene Simmons, Jimmy Page, Toulouse Engelhardt, Jim Diamond, Chris Spedding, Insect Surfers, Black Train, Gary Pig Gold, Al Di Meola, and Max Weinberg.

In 1964, The Ventures released an updated version called “Walk Don’t Run ’64, which also made the Top 10 in the US. In addition to their 1960 and 1964 versions. They recorded completely new versions in 1968, 1977, 1986, and 2000. “Walk-Don’t Run 77 is a disco track. The 1986 one was sort of a heavy metal version, and the one in 2000 has a sax in it.

They were founded by Bob Bogle and Don Wilson in the 1950s. John Fogerty inducted the Ventures in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

Johnny Smith Version

Walk Don’t Run 77

Walk Don’t Run 64

The Original

Walk Don’t Run

Not one lyric…Just dig on the guitar riff.