Kentucky Woman

Album: The Book Of Taliesyn (1968)
Charted: 38
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Songfacts®:

  • "Kentucky Woman" was written by Neil Diamond, who recorded it in 1967 when he was with the legendary Bang Records. Diamond still uses this song as part of his set in concerts. It reached #22 on the Billboard charts for him. Deep Purple included this song as their standard policy of putting their own spin on established, popular songs and including them in each album.
  • Music scholars sometimes point to Deep Purple's "Kentucky Woman" as the first heavy metal song. That is a debatable point, most especially since the group themselves deny this is so. One might also consider Deep Purple's earlier "Hush", from their Shades of Deep Purple album, as a contender for the title. And that's just Deep Purple - we won't get into the debate if you include other groups and artists.
  • The single release of "Kentucky Woman" had "Wring That Neck" as the B-side, which was titled "Hard Road" in the US release. In Australia, it was released as a double-A side with "Hush." Their US label Tetragrammaton seemed to be quite impatient for the band to take off, meddling a lot in the early record releases.
  • The Book of Taliesyn is one of the most enigmatic albums we have from that era. The cover art was done by British illustrator John Vernon Lord (no relation to the keyboardist), for which he was paid a mere £30 and never even got the original print back - and this was his only venture into album-cover art. Musically, the album is comprised of hauntingly mysterious psychedelic works which seem to evoke Arthurian legend or Tolkien-esque fantasy. The title is a reference to the works of the sixth century Welsh poet Taliesin, a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three Celtic British kings. You can't begin to explain this album to anyone.

Comments: 3

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyToday {December 17th, 2015} the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2016 inductees, the newest members will be Deep Purple, Chicago, Steve Miller, Cheap Trick and NWA; and they will be inducted into the HoF on April 8th, 2016 in New York City...
    And exactly forty seven years earlier on December 17th, 1968 Deep Purple's covered version of "Kentucky Woman" was in its third of three weeks at #38 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart, and, as mention above, that would also be its peak position on the Top 100...
    Between 1968 and 1974 the British quintet had seven Top 100 records; two made the Top 10 and both those records peaked at #4, "Hush" in 1968 and "Smoke on the Water" in 1973.
  • Joe from Grants Pass, OrRitchie with hand claps ? HAHAHA!!!!
  • Reg from Kemptville, On, -I generally tend to like originals far more than covers. (I often hate cover versions.)
    This is an exception. I feel that Deep Purple's cover is superior to Neil's.
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