Hoyt Axton - Five Hundred Miles

[ropermrmeredith06]

i wish we still had this man around to sing.

[4everinyourarms]

Can this be found on iTunes? I just love it <3

[camoman270]

love this!

[MrCajunmojo]

Brilliant version of a wonderful song from am incredible singer. RIP Hoyt.

[brucekimber]

Missed this old song. Thanks.

[Bugsmasher53]

Simple, beautiful, 'nuff said.

[medicalpodcasting]

This song never fails to touch me deep sown somewhere. Beautiful, beautiful song. Haunting, melancholic, just something so perfect for the mood... glad I stumbled across this!

[terrisonb]

I had not heard Hoyt Axton's version of this wonderful old song before I discovered it here a while back.This is such an incredible song I have always loved the Peter Paul and Mary version since I was a kid. I was recently inspired to attempt to sing it myself. I am very much just an amature singer but I would be pleased if the people who like this song would stop by my channel and give a listen to my rendition.....Terry

[directorient]

I have been looking for the best version of Five Hundred Miles available on Youtube.

Here it is!

And I like the french version by Richard Anthony too....

[directorient]

@directorient The title of the french version is "J'entends siffler le train".

[fanchbrezoneg]

@directorient C'est exact mais la version française chantée par Richard Anthony est une chanson pleurnicharde du début des années 60 qui avait un grand succès sur les pistes de dance comme slow, ce qui est totalement déphasé d'avec la chanson originale d'Hedy West qui l'a composée. Cette version d'Hoyt Axton est véritablement excellente et bien supérieure à Peter, Paul & Mary qui font aussi dans le ton trop geignard, c'est souvent le cas avec Mary Travers..

[philmoretfudpucket]

Hoyt has the best version of Five Hundred Miles I have ever heard.

philmoretfudpucket

[philmoretfudpucket]

Hoyt has the best version of Five Hundread Miles I have ever heard

[musicalidea]

Beneath the relentless expansion of their contracts across the beautiful land were not only the native peoples but the poor working men of their own race, whose toil fueled the extraction machine without anything but dislocation, depletion and ruin as their reward. The railroad is both the symbol of the "untouched" world's decimation as well as the nostalgic path returning to it. The story of the poor rural white country worker of the late 19th early 20th C is the story of loss & oppression.

[Pumarisi124]

Hauntingly beautiful rendition by Mr. Axton. Thanx for posting.

[42rosie]

Fing winchers,politics,krapp !Listen to the song and be glad u can hear it!Not only is the song beautiful ,but the singer was also.First time I heard it ,I did'nt know any english and it touched me without understanding any of the lyrics .For any music lover it should be like that.To feel the music and forget about all your bullshit. Karl

[HogTideRebelCats]

Outstanding, Ada's Hoyt Axton

[terrisonb]

I don't know how I have never heard this song before. It is wonderful. I never heard Hoyt sound better. As foe some of the comments on this song...I never understood the treatment of the returning Vets from Vietnam. I don't know of even one who was over there because they wanted to be. They went when their country called, that is all you can ask of a person. My Uncle was there 68 & 69. He still will not speak of it. I turned 18 in 75 so was thankfully spared. But I to would have gone if called.

[jharri1]

Wow.

[HomeDepot20TS]

@ReggiesReply @HMichaelH How come we can't get along? I honestly don't see where political discussion from either side had any place here. Reggie I respect your right to your opinion, same as Michael's, but I don't see the need for the venom and it seemed you instigated it. Why was it necessary?

I'm not trying to talk down to either of you, I just ask that you please be respectful at least in the comments on my videos. Thanks.

[jlambert321]

@HomeDepot20TS i 1st heard peter paul&mary's version,(my older sister's album) Mr.Axton's version hit's me as the most mournful, most lonely version i have heard, i can imagine a young man halfway around the world, in a war not of his choosing,(but by God! he was there!!) singing this song and finding some comfort.

i can't imagine why anyone would want to detract from that memory,..i was imagining that singing that song in that place and time might have been one of the few GOOD memories!

[idgit2442]

@HomeDepot20TS ------It is an unfortunate fact of life that there are those among us who are INCAPABLE of getting along. I feel pity for them. I wonder if they actually LISTEN to the words of the songs that attract them.

Thanks for the vid. I enjoyed, WHICH, I think, was your intent.

[HomeDepot20TS]

@idgit2442 Most certainly, glad you did. And it really is unfortunate.

[rawcer]

Reading the comments posted to this song reminds me why I should never read the comments posted on anything on youtube.

[HomeDepot20TS]

@rawcer I see what you mean. Its unfortunate, I had no idea it was even going on. Guess YouTube doesn't send the notifications if the comments are replies to other people. Maybe this is why they should.

[pikiwiki]

there is something about hoyt axton that is stronger and more real than any other singer i've heard

[medicred8]

damn what a song!

[MusicTheEarth]

Belissimo !

[JimmyDFFD]

Absolutely the best I've ever heard too. I looove woah got a CHILL!

I love Hoyt Axton's early work he is so underrated and unknown re: his folk work it's criminal~

One of THE greatest voices of all time, ever. R.I.P. Hoyt.

[TheKarisioux]

Miss you Brother....UFFU

[1smokie1]

Perfect. Thank you Hoyt!! I know you hear us down here. You are missed.

[fuckyou1p8r487p93q47]

Hoyt is one the all time greats! And when he really belts it out, to point the mic cant handle it, its amazing! unimaginable! singers today wish they had his lungs! Charley Pride could let it rip too. ie kawliga live. Im glad to see more fans out there!

[MyCatBear]

Excellent version. I wonder if Hoyt ever recorded a version of "Abilene"?

[talma16]

It doesn't need a video - it stands alone. I agree with you this is the best version of this song. Even better than Peter, Paul & Mary. The soul and mournful tone of his voice is what the song needs.

[zaaritha]

New version for me!

[edoko63]

its too bad the original version by hedy west can't be found on here. 

[catman306]

Beautiful sentiment, cajunhornet60, I was a school kid yet I loved this song and all the war protests songs. God bless you! I am so happy you made it home. thank you

[rocknrollroy2007]

The best versions of 500 miles are by Hoyt Axton, Peter Paul and Mary, and the Seekers. I can also appreciate the Brothers Four version.

[CThangsing]

Have fallen in love with this song since early 70s. We learn this at school singing class and have continue to haunt me till this days. When ever this plays be in any form transport me to my school days and I could see the cheer the tears. Dr C Thangsing

New Delhi April 27 2010

[suhail2033]

HEART TUOCH

[NeverEverForgotten]

Happy Birthday Chris...Roxanne

[jws54]

seen too much, been too many places

[christelsk]

Its simply beatuiful; I only wish there where some pictures to go along, with this whistle. Love Norway.

[mazirian7]

What a great song. It's so simple yet it always touches me for some reason. I spent hours listening to dozens of versions of this song on youtube and the 3 best one are:

1.  peter, paul, and mary live in sydney opera house. this version is just magical!

2. this one by hoyt axton. just a single voice but definitely the most soulful .

3. brothers four at ucla

[johnnyrockintalkin]

@mazirian7 also spent hours on youtube listening to many versions of this timeless masterpiece........it's just so haunting.....many relly good versions out there.........i like your picks - all sensational...... i would also include joan baez version for the BBC when she was very young.... and one other comment, the finally verse, delivered by scott mckenzie in the Journeymen"s version, is one incredibly touching piece of magic.........

[rawcer]

This has to be the definitive and unsurpassable version of this song, but please consider also The Seekers' cover. Her voice was as rare as Hoyt's.

[johnnyrockintalkin]

wow.........what a tremendous version. i never heard his before.....this is one incredible timeless song. there are many very,very good versions......check the joan baez one on bbc, very early joan. it's on youtube. also early peter,paul and mary in black and white and also the brothers four at ucla

[Sshelly34213]

This is SUPER difficult to play on guitar btw, I actually can't do it because my fingers are too small.

[Ashkicker13]

Reminds me of where I come from, where I'm goin!

[thinkmapp]

so nice just reminds me what i used to know - this guy is fabulous - thanks for the post

[justmusicandme]

Thank you for posting this beautiful version of the song.

[MrFarmerbee]

God, Hoyt, do you have to make me cry so easily?

[robinandthe7hoods]

Great version.The Sonny and Cher version is super also.

[rafhenlow]

So totally underated as a singer. What a voice! Great version.

[cajunhornet60]

we sang this song at Night in Vietnam in 1969; most of us didnt dare think about ever going home; but this song brought many of us (me included) to Tears....when we got home America as we knew it was gone...

Bob in Louisana

Vietnam Vet

1968-69

[HomeDepot20TS]

Wow. I had never heard anything about that with this song. Thank you for sharing. I was only born in 1986 but it's still hard not to feel ashamed when I read about the treatment of the Vietnam Vets (had an uncle who was a crew chief on a helicopter in the first calvary).

[insanepotato]

I don't understand why the Vietnam vets were treated so badly. Pardon my ignorance, could someone please explain?

[tulagKY]

pro-communist American liberals with the support of the American mass media, opposed the war and persecuted our soldiers.

[lacommla]

Hedy West, American folksinger and songwriter, writer of "500 miles", was born in the mountains of Georgia in 1938 and died of cancer in 2005.

Her father was a coal mine labor organizer in the 1930s; his bitter experiences included seeing a close friend machine-gunned on the street by company goons in the presence of a young daughter.

Her family's politics were a life-long influence. In album liner notes, she gives an eloquent personal statement on the corrosive effect of the Vietnam War...

[justmusicandme]

reply to lacommla: Thanks for the songwriter info.

[MyMoppet52]

@HomeDepot20TS I was born in 52. I've tried to explain how awful this time was to my kids. My daughter was taught in school that we 'won' the Vietnam war! I stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance from age 17 to early 30's. I had small children by then & they noticed. I couldn't sing the National Anthem. I am not unpatriotic. It was a horrible time. Kent State happened due to Del Corso sending in troops that the mayor & college Pres. didn't ask for & didn't want & didn't know had been sent!

[musicalidea]

@MyMoppet52 If only that were the extent of our sorrows - so much more has happened since, of equal terror and magnitude. Now all our goods are made by slaves overseas who work 110 weeks along with their children, drinking sludge as a their recompense and living in the path of running sewage, 12 to a room. Our people grow poorer, the police state strengthens, the wars expand, a million dead in Iraq alone (a war founded completely on a prefabricated conspiracy). Things weren't just bad "then".

[HMichaelH]

I remember those times. Bob in Louisiana never let his Country down.......but his Country let him down. He and all his Band of Brothers.

And here we go again with the likes of Obama and Iraq and Afghanistan. Do we already ignore our Troops, and care not about their 500 Miles?

[ReggiesReply]

@HMichaelH: Fuck your politics. We went into Afghanistan after 9-11, kicked ass, broke things, took names, killed Al Quaeda fighters & ran them & the Taliban to Pakistan. Bush & Cheney ginned up excuses to invade Iraq for oil. BuCh pulled troops out to fight in Iraq & got rich. We lost iniative, abandoned ground bought with blood, & our Allies, like Vietnam. Our leaders betrayed the troops again. Walter Reed hospital was a crime & a national disgrace. Obama wasn't even a liberal wet dream then.

[HMichaelH]

@ReggiesReply : What an ignoramus you must be! For you to suggest some unnamed entity have sexual intercourse with my politics is beyond stupid. You know nothing of my politics! If you did you would know I am more fiscally and socially conservative than you ever thought about being. To even assume my position on Bush or comment on my negative attitude toward Obongo is in opposition to your own view of history, and validates everyone's opinion of your own marginal Intelligence Quotient.

[HMichaelH]

@ReggiesReply I suspect you spent no time in the military service of our nation, unlike my own service. But we who went to war did so in order that idiots such as yourself can vomit forth your vile and vulgar rants in freedom.

Thanks for your comments, looser!

[ReggiesReply]

@HMichaelH: You were in the military like the thug who put a 3 round 5.56 M16A4 burst through Pat Tillman's forehead. A rear echelon, pogue, "Lifer" is a loser. Loser is spelled "loser". Write the term in your will so your survivors spell "Loser" correctly on your tombstone. You are absentminded or forgetful; or worse, an historical revisionist. I like to listen to good music without some malcontent parroting political propaganda down my back. Take an oxycontin, Rush, or take your meds...

[HMichaelH]

@ReggiesReply Because you have a narrow, little mind, you fail to recognize my original comment was a compliment to Bob in Louisiana, who unlike you, served his Country. Your rage against those of us who did our duty is now completely understandable. What an angry, shameful existence your life must be. I cannot imagine any patriotic person making fun of, or criticizing the military service of another. A person such as yourself must do so only because you fail in your own life to...

[HMichaelH]

Respond to this video...

...contribute to the greater good. “War is an ugly thing, but it is not the ugliest of things. The ugliest (thing) is that man who thinks nothing is worth fighting and dying for, and lets men better and braver than himself protect him.”

I suspect you are a little man, in intellect and genitalia, who rages against those better than yourself because of your cowardice. So, to make yourself feel bigger and better, you call people names, insult the good they do,...

[HMichaelH]

...and rage at the inconsequential, such as the songs here. You appear to be one of those cold, timid souls who knows neither victory or defeat, but only self-loathing. So rage on in your self-righteous rants. A loser, such as yourself, who doesn’t even know that the spelling of looser is correct in describing someone like you, who has worked yourself partly free from attachments. A loner, absent friends or even acquaintances, existing in self-loathing behind the anonymity of comments.

[ReggiesReply]

@HMichaelH: Geez, you know a lot of big words for an EM, but I'm not sure that publishing your Psych Eval on YouTube is a good idea... Enjoy collecting VA checks for your Medical Discharge. And your Momma choked my genitalia, ask her whether I'm little; maybe you're a Navy rating and an expert on size? I'm sorry, this is like taking candy from a baby. You win; UNCLE!!!!

[wranglerz1]

I here you brother I was there, i sang it also, DestroyermAn Homeported in Japan 1970 -1973

[philgiesbrecht]

@cajunhornet60 War is war, I spent 6+ years in the military, I know that there were major socialistic changes that took place in the 60/70's.

It is a major calamity that the changes in society took place, leaving those who were charged with protecting that society hanging out on a limb!

[torrealex]

@cajunhornet60 Dear Bob, greetings from Brasil be proud to be a Viet vet torrealex

[logan32086]

@cajunhornet60 thank you for your service. Welcome Home.

[dazey]

@cajunhornet60 Thank you, Bob. I was brought to tears when I heard it as a young child in the 1960's. Thank you for your service.

[Groundhog2265]

@cajunhornet60 Thank you for your service................

[webbma1]

@cajunhornet60 Your story touched my heart because my Brother sang this song in middle school and it was recorded on a record, so I think of him when I hear it, After reading your post I wonder if he was one of you, still singing the night he was killed in Vietnam, 1969 and never made it home.

[booknplays]

@cajunhornet60 I was young wen the VietNam war was happening and I was graced that I never knew anyone who had to go but even as young as I was, I knew the vets coming home were treated so wretchedly. I know it means nothing now, but I would like to say thank you for doing what many of your peers would not. Your country called and you answered. You are a great American Hero. God Bless You.

[jbad32]

@cajunhornet60

Sir' we also had the pleasure to listen to Hoyt at The 1st Bn. Rhodesian Light Infantry, and later on the banks of the Kavango river, at 32Bn. HQ, Buffalo. like so many other people, we will miss Hoyt. I salute you, Sir and yours. J

[Greenhornet270]

@jbad32 God Bless you my friends on this board; the worst part of being in a war is number 1; being forgotten and number 2 dying for a worthless cause......The Lord's blessing on all that go into harm's way...

Bob in Louisiana

[NeverEverForgotten]

@cajunhornet60 thank you for serving. I sleep in peace tonight because of people like you. My brother was there too. in 68 in..... will not even try to spell it.... the air force....

[drg120001]

@cajunhornet60 Thankyou Bob! For leaving home, going thousands of miles, and doing what your country thought was right....protecting strangers in a foreign land. I turned 18 in 1975. I was worried about Vietnam but I would have gone like you did.

[videotater]

@cajunhornet60 If I believed in god I'd say "god bless you Bob and all the other vets"... it breaks my heart to think of what you vets have been through. Let's all remember to honor our vets, and if y'all want to REALLY do something to support our troops (instead of *just* putting a &*$%&* bumper sticker on your car) give as much as you can to the USO and to the Wounded Warrior Project.

[Bamaboompa]

@cajunhornet60 Had friends and family over there then.

Thank you.

[bjiintx]

@cajunhornet60 God Bless You brother.... you are right. It all changed right about then....

[idgit2442]

@cajunhornet6---cajun, the way people on both sides acted was shameful. The ONLY folks with no blame were the ones drafted to serve, & serve they did. I didn't go. Long story. I did my share of fistfighting when I heard someone talk crap about our troops. I fought a LOT. If you guys accomplished anything, you taught us that we HAVE to treat vets with dignity & respect. That is your biggest contribution, a HUGE one, & earned at a very high cost. Bob, thank you for your service. We can NEVER repay

[rawcer]

After five listenings it occurs to me that this great singer's greatest asset may have been his remarkable sense of restraint. He had such a powerful voice, yet he had the good sense not to overpower this song, but rather to give it a long deep sweet gentle kiss. Maybe the most nearly perfect rendering of a truly great song I've ever heard. Okay, now I'll shut up and go to bed and be haunted by it running through my head for an hour before I can get to sleep.

[rawcer]

I live for the day when I can find Josh White Junior on Youtube. We had an album when I was a kid called something like "On My Own Way Now" on which he did this song, slightly more stylishly but just as subtle and moving.

[rawcer]

Thank you so much for putting this on; I've never heard it. My brother has a rare album called "Hoyt Axton Sings Bessie Smith." Who would have the nerve to do such a thing? But he pulls it off with flying colors. The most underappreciated singer I can think of, he had scintillating power in his voice, but was capable of the softest and sweetest nuances, as demonstrated here. Five Stars!

[AnalMart]

I love this song and this is a good version. But I think my fave version is with the Country Gentlemen.

[Idusiek]

This is so beautiful... I realy love this song.. And his voice is great..

[garybsg]

the most beautiful version of this song, his voice is haunting

[SithasUl]

I love hoyt's singing

[animeobsession02]

i love this song. there's a version just like this one (slow and mellow) with a female singing it, but i can't find it. T_T

[thev0id]

Judee Sill?

[animeobsession02]

no i found it. it was Peter, Paul, and Mary ^^

[SouthOkRDS]

Wow. Need I say more?

[gvb54]

This song and his voice just hits me where I live....sure do miss him, thanks for all the music you gave the world....R.I.P. you done good!

[cedarbeam]

Never heard this version of one of my favorite songs but its one of the best. Wow!

[Steambucket1]

A great driving cross country at night song.

[barrymore]

very chilling and haunting version, because of it's simplicity

[TheMelody218]

chills 36 secs in.. touching song.

[bulldogsnbostons]

hoyt's voice...so soothing in one song so rousing in another...hope he's leadin some heavenly band now...wanna sing with him...this puts me back in 8th grade assembly where me and 3 other girls sung this song...whis I had know this sweet seet style of his then..thanks so much wond it not have been great to have live video of him doin this

[dashman1964]

this song always sends me back in a time of my own life and Hoyt sings it as perfect as I have ever heard it

[violet2048]

Just Beautiful, thanks for the post 5*

[psandbergnz]

Thanks for downloading this. It is a better, more expressive rendition than that of the Seekers.

[wellthisiswhatIthink]

Does anyone have "Sweet Misery"? Please help me find it. My little sister(age 40)just passed away and this was our song. I can't find it anywhere. I'll be forever grateful to anyone who has a copy and posts it.

[onthelake4854]

If Hoyt recorded it, the odds are 99.999% I have it. I have everything back to the first album in 1960 or so.

Most are on albums and we have burned the to CD - not exactly uploadable. If I had a way to contact you, I could email you the Wave file.

[Sshelly34213]

hey can you send me this song?

[onthelake4854]

I have 500 miles. It is on CD and on DVD in WAV(?) If you can send me your email, I can attache the file in both formats. We just moved to a new house so it may take me a few days to get to it.

[Sshelly34213]

actually I have this song I found it somewhere, I was wondering if you might have any of the songs he sings in Bonanza? Or at least know the names to any of them, I don't think he ever recorded them, or if he made them up, or if they were actual folk songs and he just covered them?

[somethings911]

there are a million words to describe how poetic this song is and how wonderfully he sings it, but one is beautiful!

Thank you so much for posting

[bogux]

Such a simple/eerie song,

[TitoAGoGO]

Hoyt's voice is like a warm blanket on a cold winter morning.

[violet2048]

Well said!

[fullwood13]

The funny thing is that so many other artists have covered his songs but not one of them has been able to do them better than him. His music can't be classed as folk or country or rock, it surpasses the need for a label. It is quite simply beautiful music. He was one of a kind. thanks for sharing this with us.

[brisansam66]

You got that right spot on 5******..

[32WHV]

Almost ghostly. Very good version and

probably the best I have heard.

The Hooters version as well as Peter Paul and

Mary are also good.

[Freddieboy44]

This is a great old song and I love Hoyt. Thanks.

BTW: is it true that his mother wrote "Heartbreak Hotel"?

[HomeDepot20TS]

I think so, I read that on his Wiki article. I'm only 21 for what its worth so I'm not really a music expert, just love the older music over that "stuff" today. Thanks for watching. Well listening cause there's nothing to watch.

[Freddieboy44]

Thanks for your comment. I know Hoyt wrote "Never Been to Spain" and "The Pusher". I just haven't heard much about his mother and what her situation was. I would also like to read a biography on Hoyt. I wonder if there is one out there.

[Freddieboy44]

Another thing: Hoyt in my opinion is so unique because of just that; he's unique. I mean he's not really country nor rock. He has fit in all catagories though.

[TheKarisioux]

@HomeDepot20TS Yes, His Mother Mae Axton wrote Heartbreak Hotel...

[Freddieboy44]

@HomeDepot20TS I was stationed in Aschaffenburg, Germany from Jan. 84-86 and this bar I would frequent had a single 45 record on the jukebox that had Hoyt Axton singing "The Pusher" on one side and "Never been to Spain" on the other side.The owner & I argued alot w/ me trying to buy it and he would never sell. I asked him, one time, why not sell & he said he liked it too much & it was too difficult to find another. I agree. That was the 1st time I heard Hoyt sing either. I knew Hoyt wrote both.

[cindyshealed]

@Freddieboy44 She sure did. Mae Boren Axton. She also kinda discovered Tanya Tucker.

[speciesofspaces]

Is this the version from Balladeer?

[renoguard2]

Hey, I have NO PROBLEM with the black background. I hardly ever watch the videos. I just like the TUNES!! And to think,,I was a member of the "MTV Generation"!