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Western Union (song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Western Union'" is a 1967 song by the American rock band the Five Americans. The single peaked at number 5 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 in April 1967. It also reached number 7 on the 'Cash Box' Top 100 Singles chart that same month.
Origins
In a March 1967 interview that appeared in Michael Oberman's "Top Tunes" column in the 'Evening Star' newspaper (Washington, D.C.), Norman Ezell, guitarist for the group, explained how they came up with "Western Union." "Mike Rabon, our lead guitar player, was just fooling around with his guitar when he came up with a unique sound," Norman said. "It sort of reminded us of a telegraph key. That's when we decided to write 'Western Union.'"
The song tells of a Dear John letter being communicated by telegram, a service of Western Union. The lyrics Western Union man, bad news in his hand were remindful of death notification telegrams hand-delivered to the families of soldiers killed in war, still in use at the time of this song's release.>
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Cover versions
In 1967, The Strangers' recording reached number 30 in Australia.
The Ventures included it on their 1967 album 'Super Psychedelics'.
The Searchers released a single of "Western Union" on Pye Records in 1967.
French-canadian band Le Spectre released a French cover of the song in 1967 on the Disques Monde label.
In popular culture
DTV set the song to 'Pigs Is Pigs'.
The song is also included in the 2001 film 'Vanilla Sky.'
References
Category:1967 songs
Category:1967 singles
Category:The Searchers (band) songs
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