"Mockin' Bird Hill" is a song written in 3/4 time by

Calle Jularbo Carl Jularbo, better known as Calle Jularbo and born Karl Karlsson (6 June 1893, in Jularbo, Avesta Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden – 13 February 1966, in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden) was the most famous Swedish accor ...

, with lyrics by George Vaughn Horton. It is perhaps best known through recordings by

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known professionally as Patti Page, was an American singer and actress. Primarily known for pop and country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female ar ...

, Horton's own Pinetoppers, and the duo of

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

and

Mary Ford Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers; July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) was an American vocalist and guitarist, comprising half of the husband-and-wife musical team Les Paul and Mary Ford. Between 1950 and 1954, the couple had 16 top-ten hit ...

in 1951, or by

Donna Fargo Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People * Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), ...

's 1977 version, but many other artists have also recorded the song.

Background

The music of "Mockin' Bird Hill" is based closely on a Swedish waltz called "Livet i Finnskogarna" ("Life in the Finn Woods"), recorded by Calle Jularbo in 1915, which enjoyed some popularity in the U.S. It also has close roots to another old Scandinavian waltz - a

gammaldans Gammaldans (Swedish) or Gammeldans (Danish and Norwegian) (literally "old dance") is a small set of Nordic dances that became broadly popular in the late 19th century. These were also the dances of the Nordic immigrant communities in the United ...

called "Norska bondvals," or "Norwegian farmer's waltz." The first recording of the song was made by the Pinetoppers a group consisting of George Vaughn Horton and his brother Roy Horton plus three other men: this recording, which featured a female duo billed as the Beaver Valley Sweethearts, was issued on

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head of ...

in October 1950. The first recording of "Mockin' Bird Hill" by an established act was made by

and

, released as Capitol 1373 on January 29, 1951. Patti Page soon recorded the song herself, believing that record buyers assumed that the Paul/Ford single was her own new release. Page first learned of "Mockin' Bird Hill" while at

Midway Airport Chicago Midway International Airport , typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the Lo ...

: having just completed a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

nightclub engagement she was awaiting a flight to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to stopover before proceeding to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

to open at the

Fontainebleau Miami Beach The Fontainebleau Miami Beach (also known as Fontainebleau Hotel) is a hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Designed by Morris Lapidus, the luxury hotel opened in 1954. In 2007, the Fontainebleau Hotel was ranked ninety-third in the American Institute ...

the next evening. Page received a phone call at Midway from

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

a&r man Art Talmadge. At his request Page skipped her scheduled flight to allow Talmadge to reach Midway with a portable turntable, to play Page the Paul/Ford single, which Talmadge suggested Page record once she reached New York City. Page was reluctant to make a recording without the participation of her regular conductor, Jack Rael, who awaited Page in Florida; however, Talmadge had already cleared Page's recording of "Mockin' Bird Hill" with Rael and had booked studio time and musicians for Page to make the recording. Page recalled: "They had a limo at the airport

n New York City N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

took me to Bob Fine's studio. I cut just that one song. I was very happy with it and couldn't wait for Jack to hear it. He said 'This is really very good.' He called Art, and Art said 'I'm glad you like it, Jack, because we've already shipped 200,000 records." The Page recording, made on January 17, 1951, was issued by

as catalog number 5595, and first reached the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' pop music chart on February 24, 1951, lasting 22 weeks and peaking at number 2. At the same time Mercury released a recording, catalog number 5552 by Tiny Hill and the Hillsiders. The Les Paul/Mary Ford recording was issued by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...

as catalog number 1373, and also reached the ''Billboard'' top 10. On the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' best-selling record charts in which all recordings of a given song were combined, the song entered the chart on March 3, 1951; reached number 1 on April 21, 1951; and remained there through to the May 12, 1951, chart. It returned to the number 1 position on May 26. Big Band orchestra leader

Russ Morgan Russell Morgan (April 29, 1904 – August 7, 1969) was an American big band leader and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known for being the one of the composers of the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", with Larry Stock ...

recorded the song in 1951 featuring the Gay Sisters on backing vocals.

Slim Whitman Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr. (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013), known as Slim Whitman, was an American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto. He claimed he had sold in excess of ...

also recorded two versions of the song. "Mockingbird Hill" is also mentioned in " Spanish Bombs", a song by

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

Other original versions

*His Master's Voice 78rpm record (E.A.3985) by

Donald Peers Donald Rhys Hubert Peers (10 July 1908 – 9 August 1973) was a popular Welsh singer. His best remembered rendition and signature song was "In a Shady Nook by a Babbling Brook". Biography Early life Peers was born in the Welsh mining town of ...

with orchestra and chorus *Columbia 78rpm Record (DB.2852) by Ronnie Ronalde with orchestra conducted by Arturo Steffani (Yodelling & Whistling by Ronnie Ronalde) *And on CD by New Zealand Country Singer Pasty Riggir from her album "Moonlight And Roses" Copyright 1992 by Sony Music Entertainment New Zealand

Cover versions

* The Tanner Sisters with Orchestra recorded their version in London on April 1, 1951. It was released by EMI on the

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

label as catalog number B 10071. * The Pinetoppers, featuring vocal chorus by The Beaver Valley Sweethearts, (Coral Records, No. 64061, not dated). *

Jean Shepard Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard (November 21, 1933 – September 25, 2016) was an American honky-tonk singer-songwriter who pioneered for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which ...

recorded a version of this song on the album ''Got You on My Mind'' (1961), (Capitol Records ST 1525). It was recorded on April 4, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee. * Also in 1960,

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

recorded a version of this song, which was chosen to be the opening number for the album ''The Versatile Burl Ives!'' (Decca Records DL-(7)4152), which was released in 1961 and was the first of a series of Country & Western albums that Ives would do for Decca throughout the decade. * In 1961,

Teresa Brewer Teresa Brewer (born Theresa Veronica Breuer; May 7, 1931 – October 17, 2007) was an American singer whose style incorporated pop, country, jazz, R&B, musicals, and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of th ...

recorded a version of this song on the album "Songs Everybody Knows". * The Migil Five sang a bluebeat tempo version of the song - a UK hit in 1964 reaching the No. 10 spot. *

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

and

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...

covered the song on their 1965 collaboration album '' It's Country Time Again!''. *

Ray Stevens Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian, known for his Grammy-winning recordings " Everything Is Beautiful" and " Misty", as well as novel ...

recorded the song in 1975 for his mostly pop-standards cover album, '' Misty''. *

took a shortened country version to #9 on the Billboard Country Chart in 1977. * Birthe Kjaer recorded a Danish version of the song in 1977. * In 1979, Linda G. Thompson, formerly a singer with German disco group

Silver Convention Silver Convention were a German Euro disco recording act of the 1970s. The group was originally named Silver Bird Convention or Silver Bird. Career The group was initiated in Munich by producers and songwriters Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze. ...

recorded a disco style version of the song. * In 1993, Dutch group Roots Syndicate ( :nl:Roots Syndicate) released a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

cover, which featured on an advertisement for

Centraal Beheer Centraal Beheer is an insurance company located in Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of ...

in the early 1990s. * The

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

comedian

Povel Ramel Baron Povel Karl Henric Ramel (; 1 June 1922 – 5 June 2007) was a Swedish entertainer. Ramel was a singer, pianist, vaudeville artist, author and a novelty song composer. His style was characterized by imaginative wit, both verbal and musical ...

wrote a Swedish-language version of the song called ''Småfoglarne'' (The little birds), which contained a large number of puns on birds' names. It was performed and recorded by Ramel and Martin Ljung. *

Foster and Allen Foster and Allen are a musical duo from Ireland consisting of Mick Foster and Tony Allen. In their 47-year career, they have released over 52 albums, many of which entered the UK Albums Chart. Along with "A Bunch of Thyme" (entering the Irish ch ...

recorded the song in 2004 for their album ''By Special Request''. * Filipino actress and singer, Perla Adea, recorded the song under Vicor Records in the 1970s.

References

External links

George Vaughn Horton
in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. {{authority control 1951 songs Patti Page songs Ray Stevens songs Donna Fargo songs Les Paul songs Mary Ford songs Songs written by George Vaughn Horton