"Mockin' Bird Hill" is a song written in 3/4 time by Calle Jularbo, 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), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...

, 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 in 1951, or by Donna Fargo'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 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 ...

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

and Mary Ford, 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 is a major commercial airport on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the city's Chicago Loop, Loop business district, and divided between the city's C ...

: having just completed a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

nightclub engagement she was awaiting a flight to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to stopover before proceeding to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

to open at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach 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. Mercury Records released ...

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 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 advertis ...

'' 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), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

as catalog number 1373, and also reached the number 2 spot on ''Billboard''. On the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is 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 online ...

'' 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 recorded the song in 1951 featuring the Gay Sisters on backing vocals. Slim Whitman 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 music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

Other original versions

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

78rpm record (E.A.3985) by

Donald Peers Donald Rhys Hubert Peers (10 July 1908 – 9 August 1973) was a Welsh people, Welsh singer of traditional pop. His best remembered rendition and signature song was "In a Shady Nook by a Babbling Brook". Biography Early life Donald Peers was b ...

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

label as catalog number B 10071. * Jean Shepard 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 Folk music, folk singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his o ...

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 music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

and

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American pop and country 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 h ...

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 music, country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian. He is best known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "M ...

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

Misty In cryptography, MISTY1 (or MISTY-1) is a block cipher designed in 1995 by Mitsuru Matsui and others for Mitsubishi Electric. MISTY1 is one of the selected algorithms in the European NESSIE project, and has been among the cryptographic tech ...

''. * Donna Fargo 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. History The group was initiated in Munich, then West Germany, by producers and songwriters Michael Kun ...

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 during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

cover, which featured on an advertisement for Centraal Beheer in the early 1990s. * The Swedish comedian Povel Ramel 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 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. {{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