I’m sorry to say I had never before, to my knowledge, heard of Chuck Mead and his Grassy Knoll Boys — until a friend shared a song with us through the amazing technological thing called Facebook.
Through this social media platform (I am even learning to talk the lingo) my friend sent along a song written especially to be considered the official song of the COVID-19 quarantine.
I gave it a listen, mostly so I could mock our friend for what I suspected might be some yowling and screeching that would match some of the other at-home concerts making the rounds from the musically-challenged.
What a wonderful surprise to hear the melody of a familiar song, I’ve Been Everywhere, with words substituted to expressly deal with isolation and boredom of being confined to barracks.
The name of this re-incarnation of the song sung by just about everyone is: I Ain’t Been Nowhere Man.
I listened once, twice and a third time and in the immediate hours following I found myself humming along to the melody and trying to fit in my own words. Fiddle, I decided, I would just listen to the Grassy Knoll Boys again and marvel at how much I enjoyed this shared musical event. Thanks to our Friend Doug for sharing. In fact I shared it myself with one or two folks who are “Friends” on Facebook.
I imagine Hank Snow would be proud if he were able to hear this version of the song that Snow made famous wherever he sang. Johnny Cash had his version as did Lynn Anderson and other singers like Stompin’ Tom Connors. And Mike Ford did a fully Canadian version that included Moose Jaw.
The late Geoff Mack wrote the original lyrics and music in 1959 featuring 90 or so Australian place names. Singer Lucky Starr made the song famous in 1962. Upon request, Mack adapted the words for Hank Snow and the North American market in 1962-63 and the rest is history. Now a half century later many countries have their own version of place names while the melody remains much the same.
As I was humming and researching, I came across the information that the third Friday in June has been designated by someone as “take a road trip day.” That fits in perfectly with I’ve Been Everywhere — on a much smaller scale.
A few years ago SaskTel had the song modified for an advertisement to promote its mobility coverage in small town Saskatchewan. I admit to not knowing if any of our many talented musicians have expanded the advertisement to include both towns and cities but if not, there’s a project to undertake during isolation.
And who knows, by the third Friday in June, we might be able to go almost everywhere in Saskatchewan — there certainly will be a song to sing then.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
