Mockin' Bird Hill

Mockin' Bird Hill is a song, written in 3/4 time, by George Vaughn Horton, and perhaps best known through recordings by Patti Page, Donna Fargo, and by Les Paul and Mary Ford in 1951.

Background

The music of "Mockin' Bird Hill" is based closely on a Swedish waltz called "Livet i Finnskogarna" or "Life in the Finn Woods," recorded by Carl Jularbo in 1915, which enjoyed some popularity in the U.S. 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,[1] was issued on Coral Records in October 1950. The first recording of "Mockin' Bird Hill" by an established act was made by guitarist Les Paul with Mary Ford vocalizing, with Patti Page making her recording due to record buyers assuming that the Paul/Ford single was the new Patti Page release.

According to Page she first learned of "Mockin' Bird Hill" while at Midway Airport: having just completed a Chicago nightclub engagement she was awaiting a flight to New York City to stopover before proceeding to Florida to open at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach the next evening. Page received a phone call at Midway from Mercury Records a&r man Art Talmadge at whose 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 cover once she'd reached New York City. Page was reluctant to make a recording without the participation of her regular conductor Jack Rael who was awaiting 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 would recall: "They had a limo at the airport [in 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."[2]

The Page recording, made on January 17, 1951, was issued by Mercury Records as catalog number 5595, and first reached the Billboard pop music chart on February 24, 1951, lasting 22 weeks and peaking at #2.[3] 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 as catalog number 1373, and also reached the Billboard top 10.

On the Cash Box best-selling record charts, where all recordings were combined, the song first entered the chart on March 3, 1951, reached #1 on April 21, 1951, and remained #1 through the May 12, 1951 chart. It came back to the #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.

Other original versions

Cover versions

Preceded by
If		 Cash Box magazine best selling record chart
#1 record
April 21–May 12, 1951 		Succeeded by
On Top of Old Smoky
Preceded by
On Top of Old Smoky		 Cash Box magazine best selling record chart
#1 record
May 26, 1951 		Succeeded by
On Top of Old Smoky

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia of Country Music Oxford University Press (NYC) 2012
  2. ↑ Colin Escott Roadkill on the Three-Chord Highway: Art and Trash in American Popular Music Routledge (NYC) 2002 p.65
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top Pop Records 1940-1955. Record Research.

External links