"Hush" is a song written by American composer and musician Joe South, for recording artist Billy Joe Royal. The song was later covered by Deep Purple in 1968 and by Kula Shaker in 1996. Each artist had a Top 5 hit with their version.
Billy Joe Royal version
The Billy Joe Royal version peaked at number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 28 October11 November 1967, and in Canada. South himself recorded the song in 1968, and included it on his second album, Games People Play. Session musician Barry Bailey, who later became the lead guitarist for the Atlanta Rhythm Section, plays guitar on the track. The promo clip for Billy Joe Royal's release of the song was filmed at the boardwalk amusement park and outskirts of an unidentified Southern beach town.
Deep Purple version
The song was subsequently recorded by British hard rock band Deep Purple for their 1968 debut album Shades of Deep Purple. The track became the group's first hit single peaking at number 4 on the Hot 100 on 21–28 September 1968, and number 2 in Canada while going largely unnoticed in the United Kingdom. A live, US-televised version of "Hush" appeared as a bonus track on the 2000 CD-reissue of the Shades of Deep Purple album. In 1968, Hugh Hefner introduced Deep Purple, who performed live on the Playboy After Dark TV series. After Hefner heard a ghost story from Jon Lord and had a guitar lesson from Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple performed "Hush" which is available in the Playboy After Dark -2nd Collection 2007 DVD release. In celebration of the band's 20th anniversary, Deep Purple re-recorded the song in 1988 for their album Nobody's Perfect. The track was released as a single and reached number 62 on the UK singles chart and number 44 on the US Hot Mainstream Rock chart.
Other versions
"Hush" is one of four songs originally recorded with vocals sung by Rod Evans that the band have performed with Ian Gillan on vocals later on. Others are "Kentucky Woman", originally from the albumThe Book of Taliesyn from 1968; "Mandrake Root" from the same album that originally featured "Hush","Bird Has Flown" from the album Deep Purple, or Deep Purple III, released in 1969.
Swiss band Gotthard included a cover on their self-titled 1992 debut album. They also performed the song live with Deep Purple's Jon Lord as guest special at the Zermatt Unplugged Festival in 2008.
Jenny Rock, a Canadian artist, recorded a French adaptation version in 1970 entitled Mal.
Kula Shaker recorded a version which peaked at No.2 in the UK Charts in 1997 and was used on the soundtrack for I Know What You Did Last Summer and the marketing for .
Somebody's Image recorded a version that was a minor hit in Australia in 1967.
