I have heard this song quite often. Many have sung it. And, it is a cool, cool song.
Then, I stumbled upon the original recording by Burl Ives, and goosebumps ran up and down my body.
I could almost feel the hair ends tingling, and then I heard it again, in the dark.
The goosebumps were real, and so was the tingling in my nerve endings.
That is when you ask yourself the question – how much magic can one man and a simple guitar arrangement make? Just his voice, and the guitar.
You can almost feel the melancholy and the eeriness of the atmosphere in the song.
Correction – you can feel it. You are drawn into it, especially when he goes ‘ yippeeyaayyey’.
If this version is not considered to be one of the classics of Western popular music, then it is a bloody shame.
Do me a favour.
Switch of the lights, and listen to the song in the dark.
Then, tell me what you think of it.
It is superb, Rajiv.
It is indeed!
It gave me goosebumps too. I’s so long since I have heard this–over a half century ago.
And, it is indeed wonderful!