S.O.D. "Have Love, Will Travel" by The Sonics

2/25/2016     Eighteen artists have covered this 1959 classic, Including Bruce Springsteen, the Black Keys and Jim Belushi.  Different versions have made their way onto television and film spots such as the Showtime series Californication.  Written and composed by Richard Berry in 1959, the 1965 punk version by The Sonics, who changed the cord progression to a simple 1-4-5-4 from a 1-2m-m3-2m, is more successful.  Berry borrowed much of the title from the old time radio/television western "Have Gun, Will Travel."  Berry passed on to Doo-Wop/R&B Heaven in 1997 but The Sonics have been back at it since 2007.  

     The Sonics may have been the first punk/garage band in existence and have influenced a number of artists, including The Cramps, Bruce Springsteen, The Flaming Lips and Kurt Cobain who comments that their drum sound is the most amazing he has ever heard especially for having only used one microphone to record. In 2015 they released their first album in 40 years entitled "This Is The Sonics."  The 1965 album that features this song is called "Here Are The Sonics."