I didn't know of this song until I heard it from Paul Newman from the great movie "Cool Hand Luke". I actually heard the song before I saw the movie and loved it and then I saw the movie and of course in the scene in which he cries after the death of his mother brought so much more meaning to the song and its relevance in the movie and in that certain moment.
What I know is that it's not at all originally The Flaming Lips' song. It was written back in the 50's and is a folk song that has been rewritten and re-sung countless times by so many different people. According to Wikipedia: "Ed Rush and George Cromarty wrote the song in 1957 and recorded it (as a humorous ad spoof) in 1962 as The Goldcoast Singers" and "The authorship of the song has historically been incorrectly attributed to Ernie Marrs." And it's supposedly Ernie Marrs' version of the song that had been used for CHL. Then the Flaming Lips covered it, though I'm not sure if they changed any of the lyrics. I hope to hear other versions and any of the older less-rewritten ones.
I didn't know of this song until I heard it from Paul Newman from the great movie "Cool Hand Luke". I actually heard the song before I saw the movie and loved it and then I saw the movie and of course in the scene in which he cries after the death of his mother brought so much more meaning to the song and its relevance in the movie and in that certain moment.
What I know is that it's not at all originally The Flaming Lips' song. It was written back in the 50's and is a folk song that has been rewritten and re-sung countless times by so many different people. According to Wikipedia: "Ed Rush and George Cromarty wrote the song in 1957 and recorded it (as a humorous ad spoof) in 1962 as The Goldcoast Singers" and "The authorship of the song has historically been incorrectly attributed to Ernie Marrs." And it's supposedly Ernie Marrs' version of the song that had been used for CHL. Then the Flaming Lips covered it, though I'm not sure if they changed any of the lyrics. I hope to hear other versions and any of the older less-rewritten ones.