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We all know the Shadows version. Many of us will know the Hank Marvin remake and, of course, the Santo and Johnny “original”. Except that it wasn’t. I’ve recently discovered that the original was a song with words!

Betsy Brye 1959



Here are two other live concert versions of Seepwalk I’ve come across, both excellent in their own way

Brian Setzer 1999



and Alan Darby 2014


Just checked it out, Santo & Johnny was the original, they wrote it and released June 1959, the Betsy Brye effort was released in August as a vocal cover.

Yes, Santo & Johnny’s Version was very popular here, followed by the Ventures’ interpretation of the tune.

I think the Shadows’ Sleepwalk is the most evocative, though. We had a 30-year-old listening in on some shadows pieces we were playing, and of course she had a difficult time relating to these 60-year-old pieces. Their music is so different. But she was quite attracted to Sleepwalk and found it very romantic

Andy

One of the Petticoats and Dreamboats Cds has Sleepwalk on it by the Shadows! But it sounds very much like Santo and Johnny to me!

Chet Atkins' version...




...from his 1959 Teensville LP on which he used the DeArmond Tone/Volume pedal.

dave robinson wrote:Just checked it out, Santo & Johnny was the original, they wrote it and released June 1959, the Betsy Brye effort was released in August as a vocal cover.

Ah! I had assumed the usual thing. Take a song, remove the words and get an instrumental. Seems this was the opposite. Start with the tune, add some words and get a song. As happened with Dance On!

neil2726 wrote:One of the Petticoats and Dreamboats Cds has Sleepwalk on it by the Shadows! But it sounds very much like Santo and Johnny to me!

To my ears, the Shadows version is very different, Neil. Santo and Johnny played on a lap guitar, which e called “Hawaiian guitar” back in the day. The Ventures’ version is a bit closer to Santo & Johnny’s.

It is unusual to me that many of you don’t seem to know Santo & Johnny. They and their version were well known here in Manila. That’s because our exposure was to the US.

Here’s Santo & Johnny with Skeepwalk.



Andy

And the Ventures’ version. I knew this before the Shads’ version. This is not their original version, which was simpler.

This is the original Ventures version. That’s Bob Bogle on lead. The sound is very Jazzmaster.



Andy

I remember reading (from this invaluable website) that The Shadows wrote Nivram to give themselves an alternative to a similar tune that they had been playing for a time (was it Barney's Blues?).

Presumably, then, Midnight was written as their replacement for Sleepwalk?
Ray