Gotta Travel On

This article is about the song. For the album by Ray Bryant, see Gotta Travel On (album).
"Gotta Travel On"
Single by Billy Grammer
B-side"Chasing a Dream"
ReleasedOctober 1958
StudioRCA Victor, Nashville, Tennessee[1]
GenreCountry
Length2:24
LabelMonument
Songwriter(s)Paul Clayton, The Weavers, Larry Ehrlich, Dave Lazer[2]
Billy Grammer singles chronology
"Gotta Travel On"
(1958) 		"Bonaparte's Retreat"
(1959)

"Gotta Travel On" is an American folksong. The earliest known version was printed in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag in 1927 under the title "Yonder Comes the High Sheriff" and several variations were recorded in the 1920s, but the best known version is credited to Paul Clayton, The Weavers, Larry Ehrlich, and Dave Lazer and was first recorded by Pete Seeger in 1958.[3]

A 1958 recording by Billy Grammer backed by the Anita Kerr Singers reached #4 on the U.S. pop chart, #5 on the U.S. country chart, #6 in Australia, and #14 on the U.S. R&B chart in 1959.[4] The recording ranked #53 on Billboard magazine's Top 100 singles of 1959.[5]

  1. ^ Crane, Larry; Lehning, Kyle; White, Bergen (March 2017). "Fred Foster: Monuments of Sound - Roy Orbison, Ray Price, Kristofferson". Tape Op. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  2. ^ "secondhandsongs.com". secondhandsongs.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  3. ^ "Gotta Travel On". The Ballad Index. Fresno State University. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  4. ^ "Billy Grammer, "Gotta Travel On" Chart Positions". Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  5. ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1959". Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved March 30, 2018.