“500 Miles” (also known as “500 Miles Away from Home” or “Railroaders’ Lament“) 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. In a May 1963 interview on Folk Music Worldwide, Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary characterised the song, which appeared on the group’s 1962 debut album, as “a reflection of loneliness.”
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 anthologised song”. Some recordings have also credited Curly Williams, or John Phillips as co-writers, although Phillips admitted 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” (Roud 4959), which may itself have origins in the Southern American fiddle tunes “Reuben’s Train” and “Train 45”. Johnny Cash is known to have included “500 Miles” on his list of 100 essential country songs in the early 1970s.
Folklorist Norm Cohen writes that a distance of 900 miles, rather than 500, is most commonly referenced in versions of the traditional song, but other distances, including 400 miles and 10,000 miles also appear.
The melody of “500 Miles” is very close to that of “You’ll Never Miss Your Mother Till She’s Gone”, written by Harry Birch, an alias of Charles A. White, and published by White, Smith, and Company of Boston, Massachusetts in 1885. Both “You’ll Never Miss Your Mother Till She’s Gone” and “900 Miles” were first recorded by Fiddlin’ John Carson in 1923-4. 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-five hit on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts.
The song appears on the 1961 eponymous debut album by The Journeymen; this may have been its first release. The song was heard on the February 1962 Kingston Trio live album College Concert (a 1962 US number three). I It appears as “Nine Hundred Miles“ on the 1962 album When I Was a Young Girl from folk-singer Barbara Dane (released in October 1962). The song was covered by Sonny & Cher on their 1965 album Look at Us. This version was played over the credits of the 1966 BBC TV film Cathy Come Home.
