"500 Miles" is a song made popular in the United States and Europe during the 1960s folk revival. The simple repetitive lyrics offer a lament by a traveller who is far from home, out of money and too ashamed to return.
History
The song is generally credited as being written by Hedy West, and a 1961 copyright is held by Atzal Music, Inc. "500 Miles" is West's "most anthologized song." Some recordings have also credited Curly Williams, or John Phillips as co-writers although Phillips admits he had only rearranged it and "didn't deserve the credit". David Neale writes that "500 Miles" may be related to the older folk song "900 Miles", which may itself have origins in the southern American fiddle tunes "Reuben's Train" and "Train 45". Johnny Cash is known to have placed "500 Miles" on his list of 100 essential country songs in the early 1970's
The most commercially successful version of the song was Bobby Bare's in 1963. His version became a Top 10 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, as well as a Top 5 hit on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts.
Chart history
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Other cover versions
The song appears on the 1961 eponymous debut album by The Journeymen; this may have been its first release.
The Hooters recorded a version of this song with additional lyrics, dedicated to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Peter, Paul and Mary provided background vocals for them, as well. This version is on the albumZig Zag.
In 2017 a Chinese adaptation of the song called "别送我" was released on the soundtrack of "Duckweed" and sung by Chen Hongyu, Su Zixu, Liu Hao Lin, and Han Luo.
Czech
Czech version was recorded in 1967 as "Tisíc mil" with the lyrics by Ivo Fischer, sung as a duet by Waldemar Matuška and Helena Vondráčková.
Finnish
In Finnish the song has been recorded under at least five different song titles. In 1963 Erkki Pohjanheimo recorded the song under title "Juna jättää laiturin". Lyrics were written by Reino Helismaa. Pohjanheimo recorded the song from its French title "J'entends siffler le train", and it was on the B side of a 7" single called "Kutsukaa Tri Casey". The following year a Finnish vocal quartet Neljä Penniä recorded a 7" single that consisted of two songs: "Washington Square" on the A side, and on the flip side there was a Finnish version of "500 Miles" under the title "Pitkät illat", lyrics by Sauvo Puhtila. Also in 1964 another version of the song was recorded by folk-spirited trio Anki, Bosse & Robert and titled "Viimeinen vihellys", lyrics by Juha Vainio. "Viimeinen vihellys" was also a 7" single B side, on the A side there was Will Holt's song "Lemon Tree". "Viimeinen vihellys" was released also on their self-titled record in 1965. In 1979 the song was recorded yet again, by Jukka Raitanen. This time it was called "Liian kaukana". Lyrics were written by Raul Reiman. This song was released on Raitanen's album Yölinjalla. "Yölinjalla" song is a Finnish version of the song "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. "500 Miles" has also been released with religious content under name "Lapsuuden usko", lyrics by Matti Nyberg. This song has been recorded at least three times: 1973, 2005 and 2011. It was released by a parish singer group Dominicones in 1973,. In 2005 it was recorded by actor and singer Mikko Leppilampi. The song was released on album "Tilkkutäkki", and targeted to people who want to nostalgize the time of their confirmation on Lutheran church. In 2011 it was recorded by Petrus in his album Enkelten laulut.
French
had a hit with a French version of the song, "Et j'entends siffler le train". It reached number-one in France in 1962.
In 1963 a German version, "Und dein Zug fährt durch die Nacht", was a success for :de:Peter Beil|Peter Beil. Also in German, Santiano in 2012 released a marine-themed version, "500 Meilen", on their album Bis ans Ende der Welt.
Hindi
Indian composer Rajesh Roshan used the same tune to compose song 'Jab Koyi Baat Bigad Jaaye' in 1990's movie Jurm".
Japanese
The Japanese duo Wink included it as the B-side of their 1989 single, under the title. In 2018, Japanese singer Kiyoe Yoshioka sang a Japanese version of the song, "500 Mairu" on her debut album Uta Iro.
Slovenian
The Slovene singer Lado Leskovar wrote a 1965 hit based on the song titled "Poslednji vlak".
Vietnamese
There are two versions in Vietnamese. One is "Tiễn em lần cuối" sung by Trung Hanh, another one is "Người tình ngàn dặm" sung by Ngọc Lan.
