Have Love, Will Travel
| "Have Love, Will Travel" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Richard Berry | ||||
| B-side | No Room | |||
| Released | November 1959 | |||
| Format | Vinyl single | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll, garage rock | |||
| Length | 2:35 | |||
| Label | Flip 349 | |||
| Writer(s) | Richard Berry | |||
| Richard Berry singles chronology | ||||
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"Have Love, Will Travel" is a 1959 song written and recorded by Richard Berry.[1] Berry also wrote and originally performed the classic hit "Louie Louie".
The original version of "Have Love, Will Travel" differs from virtually all the cover versions due to the chord progression, which on the original version is G-Am-Bb-Am, which is a 1-2m-m3-2m progression, whereas all the cover versions play a basic 1-4-5-4 progression, which in G would be simply G-C-D-C.
Covers
In its most known incarnation, the garage rock-protopunkers The Sonics covered the song in 1965 and it appeared on their album Here Are The Sonics of that year. Driven by haphazardly recorded fuzz guitar, a big driving drum sound, screaming vocals and a dirty saxophone break, it epitomized their sound at that time. This is the version that virtually all of the other artists copied, as they changed the chord progression from the original.
The song has subsequently been rendered by Paul Revere and the Raiders in a 1964 B-side, by Stiv Bators as a 1986 B-side, by Crazyhead in a 1989 EP, by Thee Headcoatees on their 1992 album Have Love Will Travel, by Blood Sausage on their 1993 release Happy Little Bullshit Boy, by The Brandos on their 1998 release "Nowhere Zone" (although it was originally recorded for their ill-fated Trial By Fire album in 1989), by blues rockers The Black Keys on their 2003 album Thickfreakness, their 7" vinyl single, and their 2004 EP The Moan, by Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts in 2005 (who named a tour with Dan Aykroyd "The Have Love Will Travel Revue"), by Japanese band The Portugal Japan in 2005, by Danish retro rock band The Blue Van on their album The Art of Rolling (2005) and by Lady Dottie and the Diamonds in 2008, among others. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed it at times on their anti-heroic 1988 Tunnel of Love Express tour.
Other notable 60s cover versions include the Gallahads (1964), Hollywood Hurricanes (UK, 1964), Imperialites (1964), Lee Maye (1964), Off-Beats (1964), and Sano and the Saints Five (1966).
A version by Sky Saxon, lead singer of The Seeds, was released in 2011.
Since 2006, the song (as performed by The Sonics) has been played occasionally by Minneapolis rockers The Hard Left, during their live shows.
Other appearances
Since 2007, a recording of the song has been used by LV=, the UK financial services group, in its television advertising for car insurance. The Basics from Melbourne, Australia covered the song on their 2007 album Stand Out/Fit In, and their 2010 live album, and this version was used in an episode of the David Duchovny series Californication. The song was also used in the BBC series Three Men in More Than One Boat.
The title is a supposed spin-off of the name of a popular television/radio western serial called Have Gun, Will Travel.
The version recorded by the Sonics appears in the movies RocknRolla (2008), How To Be (2008) and Tournée (2010). Also used in September 2014 in a promo for season four of the CNN series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, and again in October 2014 by ESPN for their tennis broadcast ads.