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Going Up the Country
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Wikipedia article
"'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",
it became one of the band's biggest hits and best-known songs.
As with their previous single, "On the Road Again", the song was adapted from a 1920s blues song and sung by Alan Wilson.
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.
Thomas was from the songster tradition and had a unique sound,
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.Vocalion no. 1230
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" and multi-instrumentalist Jim Horn reproduced Thomas' quill parts on the flute.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.
Although linked to the counterculture of the 1960s' back-to-the-land movement, Wilson's lyrics are ambiguous, leading some to suggest they were about evading the draft during the Vietnam War by moving to Canada:
Releases and charts
In October 1968, Liberty Records first released "Going Up the Country" on Canned Heat's third album, 'Living the Blues', and followed it with a single on November 22, 1968.
The single peaked at number 11 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 singles chart on January 25, 1969, making it the band's best showing on the main U.S. chart.
On January 7, 1969, the song peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart.
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). The group performed "Going Up the Country" at the Woodstock music festival in August 1969 and the song is used in the 'Woodstock' film and appears on the original soundtrack album.
References
Category:Songs about hippies
Category:1968 songs
Category:1968 singles
Category:Canned Heat songs
Category:Liberty Records singles
Category:Hippie movement
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