Hush (Billy Joe Royal song)

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"Hush"
Hush (Billy Joe Royal song).png
Cover of the 1967 Norway single
Single by Billy Joe Royal
from the album Billy Joe Royal
featuring Hush
B-side"Watching from the Bandstand"
ReleasedSeptember 1967
Recorded1967
GenreSwamp rock[1]
Length2:30
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Joe South
Producer(s)Joe South
Billy Joe Royal singles chronology
"These Are Not My People"
(1967) 		"Hush"
(1967) 		"Storybook Children"
(1968)

"Hush" is a song written by American composer and musician Joe South, for recording artist Billy Joe Royal. The song was later covered by Somebody's Image (an Australian band fronted by Russell Morris) in 1967. It reached #15. It was also covered by Deep Purple in 1968 and by Kula Shaker in 1997. Each artist had a Top 5 hit with their version.

Billy Joe Royal version[]

Billy Joe Royal would record "Hush" in a 12 July 1967 Nashville recording session which featured Barry Bailey, future lead guitarist for the Atlanta Rhythm Section, on guitar. In the mid-1980s Royal would recall how while he and his regular songwriter/producer Joe South were driving from Atlanta to Nashville for that recording session (Billy Joe Royal quote:)"Joe was writing 'I Never Promised You a Rose Garden' [in the car]. I didn't like it, so he wrote 'Hush' right there [leaning] on the dashboard."[2] ("...Rose Garden", an album cut on Billy Joe Royal featuring Hush, would prove to be South's most successful composition, spearheaded by the 1971 Lynn Anderson hit version:(Billy Joe Royal quote:) "To this day I can't figure out why I didn't like that song.")[3]

Although more successful than Royal's last six single releases, only two of which had ranked even low on the Billboard Hot 100, "Hush" would not afford Royal a Top 40 comeback: managing only one "top-tier" market breakout in Chicago - whose prime Top 40 station WLS would rank "Hush" as high as #5 tying the WLS hit parade peak for both Royal's 1965 career record "Down in the Boondocks" and also Deep Purple's 1968 "Hush" cover - [4] "Hush" would rise no higher on the Hot 100 than #52,[5] with a Canadian pop chart peak of #45.[6] The qualified success of "Hush" was sufficient to allow for the release of Royal's second album Billy Joe Royal featuring Hush.

"Hush" did afford Billy Joe Royal a one-off hit on the European continent, reaching #12 on the German singles chart and becoming a Top Ten hit in Belgium (#1), the Netherlands (#5) and Switzerland (#2).[7]

A promo clip for Billy Joe Royal's release of the song was filmed at the boardwalk amusement park and outskirts of an unidentified Southern beach town.

Deep Purple version[]

"Hush"
Deeppurplehushps.jpg
Cover of the 1968 UK single
Single by Deep Purple
from the album Shades of Deep Purple
B-side"One More Rainy Day"
Released
  • 21 June 1968 (UK) [8]
  • July 1968 (US)
RecordedApril 21, 1968
StudioPye, London
GenrePsychedelic rock
Length4:24
Label
Songwriter(s)Joe South
Producer(s)Derek Lawrence
Deep Purple singles chronology
"Hush"
(1968) 		"Kentucky Woman"
(1968)
Audio sample
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"Hush"
Deep Purple Hush 1988.png
Cover of the 1988 German single
Single by Deep Purple
from the album Nobody's Perfect
B-side
  • "Dead or Alive" (live)
  • "Bad Attitude" (live)
ReleasedJune 1988
Recorded1988
StudioPye, London
GenreRock
style: blues rock,[9] hard rock[10]
Length3:32
Label
Songwriter(s)Joe South
Deep Purple singles chronology
"Call of the Wild"
(1987) 		"Hush"
(1988) 		"King of Dreams"
(1990)

The song was subsequently recorded by British hard rock band Deep Purple for their 1968 debut album Shades of Deep Purple, group member Ritchie Blackmore having heard the Billy Joe Royal original while living in Hamburg: (Ritchie Blackmore quote:) "It was a great song [which] would be a good song [for] our act, if we could come up with a different arrangement...We [recorded] the whole song in two takes."[11] The track became the group's first hit single peaking at number 4 on the Hot 100 on 21–28 September 1968,[12] number 16 in Italy in late 1968, and number 2 in Canada while going largely unnoticed in the United Kingdom. A live, US-televised version of "Hush" appeared as a bonus track on the 2000 CD-reissue of the Shades of Deep Purple album.

In 1968, Hugh Hefner introduced Deep Purple, who performed live on the Playboy After Dark TV series. After Hefner heard a ghost story from Jon Lord and had a guitar lesson from Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple performed "Hush" which is available in the Playboy After Dark -2nd Collection 2007 DVD release.

In celebration of the band's 20th anniversary, Deep Purple re-recorded the song in 1988 for their album Nobody's Perfect. The track was released as a single and reached number 62 on the UK singles chart and number 44 on the US Hot Mainstream Rock chart.

Other versions[]

  • The song's composer Joe South recorded "Hush" in 1968 for his second album Games People Play.[13]
  • "Hush" is one of four songs originally recorded with vocals sung by Rod Evans that Deep Purple have performed with Ian Gillan on vocals later on. Others are "Kentucky Woman", originally from the album The Book of Taliesyn from 1968; "Mandrake Root" from the same album that originally featured "Hush" ,"Bird Has Flown" from the album Deep Purple, or Deep Purple III, released in 1969.
  • Tommy Körberg recorded "Hush" for his 1968 album Nature Boy, credited to Tom.[14]
  • Merrilee Rush recorded "Hush" for her 1968 album Angel of the Morning.[15]
  • Love Affair recorded "Hush" for their 1968 album The Everlasting Love Affair.[15]
  • A 1973 single release of "Hush" by Jeannie C. Riley reached #51 on the C&W chart in Billboard, the track being included on the album Just Jeannie.[15]
  • Swiss band Gotthard included a cover on their self-titled 1992 debut album. They also performed the song live with Deep Purple's Jon Lord as guest special at the Zermatt Unplugged Festival in 2008.
  • Jenny Rock, a Canadian artist, recorded a French adaptation version in 1970 entitled Mal (produced by Michel Pagliaro).
  • Kula Shaker recorded a version which peaked at No.2 in the UK Charts in 1997 and was used on the soundtrack for I Know What You Did Last Summer and the marketing for Kingsman: The Secret Service.
  • Somebody's Image recorded a version that was a minor hit in Australia in 1967.
  • The Partridge Family performed a version on their TV series, with David Cassidy on vocals.
  • Milli Vanilli recorded a version on their debut album All or Nothing in 1988.
  • Complex recorded a version for their debut self-titled studio album in 1970.
  • Funky Junction recorded a version of "Hush" on their only album Funky Junction Play a Tribute to Deep Purple in 1973. The band featured Phil Lynott, Eric Bell, and Brian Downey from Thin Lizzy.[16]
  • Captain Jack covered "Hush" on the Eurodance album Party Warriors, released in Europe in 2003.[17]

Personnel[]

1968 Deep Purple version

1988 Deep Purple version

References[]

  1. ^ "What Is Swamp Rock?". ThoughtCo. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  2. ^ Vancouver Province 4 November 1988 "Billy Joe Pulls Himself Out of the Boondocks" by Bruce Mason p.65
  3. ^ The Tennesean 7 November 1987 "Billy Joe Royal a Little Late, But Country Stardom Arrives at Last" by Robert K. Oermann pp.1D, 2D
  4. ^ Smith, Ronald P. (2001). 'Chicago Top 40 Charts 1960-1969. Bloomington IN: Writers Club Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-595-19614-4.
  5. ^ "Billy Joe Royal – Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  6. ^ "Official list" (PDF). www.collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  7. ^ http://swisscharts.com/song/Billy-Joe-Royal/Hush-12
  8. ^ Popoff, Martin (2016). The Deep Purple Family (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-908724-42-7.
  9. ^ "Deep Purple - Hush". Discogs.
  10. ^ "Deep Purple - Hush". Discogs.
  11. ^ https://www.vintageguitar.com/2822/ritchie-blackmore/
  12. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 169.
  13. ^ "Joe South - Games People Play". Discogs.
  14. ^ https://www.discogs.com/Tom-Nature-Boy/release/12415609
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/20045/versions
  16. ^ Alan Byrne, "Thin Lizzy: Soldiers of Fortune", Firefly, 2004
  17. ^ "Captain Jack - Party Warriors - The Partyhit Collection". Discogs.

External links[]

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