| "Walk, Don't Run" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Ventures | ||||
| B-side | "Home" (Blue Horizon & first Dolton pressings, British pressing) "The McCoy" (later Dolton pressings) |
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| Released | June 1960 | |||
| Label | Blue Horizon (USA) Dolton (USA), Top Rank (UK) |
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| Writer(s) | Johnny Smith | |||
| The Ventures singles chronology | ||||
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"Walk, Don't Run" is an instrumental composition written and first performed by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith in 1955. The tune is essentially a counter-melody to the chord changes of the old standard, "Softly, As in the Morning Sunrise".[1]
The Seattle-based instrumental rock band The Ventures released their version of the tune as a surf rock single in autumn 1960, which quickly became a hit. In the UK, the tune was covered by the John Barry Seven, whose version, while only peaking at #11 on the Record Retailer chart, compared to the Ventures' #8, outcharted them to reach the Top 10 on other UK charts, such as that of the NME.
The Ventures' version is believed to be one of the first surfing songs to make the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #2 and reaching #3 on the Cash Box magazine chart for five weeks in August and September 1960.[2]
The band's original drummer, George T. Babbitt, Jr., who later retired as a four-star Air Force general,[3] left the band before "Walk, Don't Run" was released. The Ventures' website lists "[t]he drummer on Walk, Don't Run [as] Skip Moore, not Howie Johnson as many assume. Skip was given the choice of $25 or ¼ of the money the record would make for playing on the session. He took the $25". The Ventures made an updated cover version of the song in 1964 called "Walk, Don't Run '64" (which has a guitar riff similar to "Misirlou"), which made it into the Top Ten in the US that August.
Chet Atkins recorded a popular rendition of the song that preceded the Ventures' hit by three years. Other cover versions include those by The Shadows, JFA, Zapatón and Steve Howe (on the album Quantum Guitar).
In July 2003, the song was recorded by Ventures' guitarist Nokie Edwards and The Light Crust Doughboys for the album Guitars Over Texas. This version is known for its jazz-inflected second verse and the use of keyboards in place of rhythm guitar.[4]
In August 2010, the song was used for Local on the 8s on The Weather Channel.