Going Up the Country
"Going Up the Country" (also Goin' Up the Country) is a song adapted and recorded by American blues rock band Canned Heat. Called a "rural hippie anthem",[1] it became one of the band's biggest hits and best-known songs.[2] As with their previous single, "On the Road Again", the song was adapted from a 1920s blues song and sung in a countertenor-style by Alan Wilson.
"Going Up the Country" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Canned Heat | ||||
from the album Living the Blues | ||||
B-side | "One Kind Favor" | |||
Released | November 22, 1968 | |||
Recorded | August 6–7, 1968 | |||
Studio | I.D. Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 2:50 | |||
Label | Liberty | |||
Songwriter(s) | Alan Wilson | |||
Producer(s) | Canned Heat, Skip Taylor | |||
Canned Heat singles chronology | ||||
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Background and composition
Canned Heat, who were early blues enthusiasts, based "Going Up the Country" on "Bull Doze Blues", recorded in 1928 by Texas bluesman Henry Thomas.[3] Thomas was from the songster tradition and had a unique sound,[4] sometimes accompanying himself on quills, an early Afro-American wind instrument similar to panpipes. He recorded "Bull Doze Blues" in Chicago on June 13, 1928, for Vocalion Records.[5]
For "Going Up the Country", Canned Heat's Wilson used Thomas' melody on the quills and his basic rhythm, but arranged it for a rock setting and rewrote the lyrics. In addition to the bass and drum rhythm section, Henry Vestine supplied a "light electric rhythm guitar"[3] and multi-instrumentalist Jim Horn reproduced Thomas' quill parts on the flute.[6]
Although linked to the counterculture of the 1960s' back-to-the-land movement, Wilson's lyrics are ambiguous:
Now, baby, pack your leaving trunk, you know we've got to leave today
Just exactly where we're going, I cannot say, but we might even leave the U.S.A.
'Cause there's a brand new game that I don't wanna play
Releases and charts
"Going Up the Country" was first released on Canned Heat's third album, Living the Blues, in October 1968.[7] Liberty Records released the song as a single on November 22, 1968,[7] which peaked at number 11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on January 25, 1969.[8] "Going Up the Country" was Canned Heat's highest charting single in the US.[8] On January 7, 1969, the song peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart.[9]
The song appears on several Canned Heat compilation albums, including Canned Heat Cookbook, Let's Work Together: The Best of Canned Heat (1989) and Uncanned! The Best of Canned Heat (1994).[7] The group performed "Going Up the Country" at the Woodstock music festival in August 1969 and the song is used in the Woodstock film[1] and appears on the original soundtrack album.[10]
References
- Planer, Lindsay. "Canned Heat: Living the Blues – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
- Pearson, Barry Lee (1996). "Canned Heat". In Erlewine, Michael (ed.). All Music Guide to the Blues. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. ISBN 0-87930-424-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Greenwald, Matthew. "Canned Heat: 'Going Up the Country' – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
- Shadwick, Keith (2007). "Henry "Ragtime" Thomas". The Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues. London: Quantum Publishing. p. 411. ISBN 978-0-681-08644-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Vocalion no. 1230
- The flute in the album version and single version differ slightly; in one version, the third note is held for only a moment, while in the other, it is held for two or three seconds.
- Russo, Greg (1994). Uncanned! The Best of Canned Heat (CD set booklet). Canned Heat. New York City: EMI Records/Liberty Records. p. 23. 7243 8 29165 2 9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- "Canned Heat: Chart History – Hot 100". Billboard.com. Retrieved May 21, 2018.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- "Canned Heat – Singles". Official Charts. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- Jurek, Thom. "Various Artists: Woodstock – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 3, 2019.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)