The story behind the song
An American folk singer-songwriter named Hedy West created this song back in 1961. At just 23 years old, West came from North Georgia and built the song by combining pieces of a tune her uncle had shared with her. The song draws a lot from an old 19th-century Appalachian folk song called 900 Miles (also called Railroaders’ Lament). West took that original song, made it slower, changed the distance mentioned in it, and then copyrighted her new version under her own name.
Elvis Presley never officially recorded 500 Miles in a commercial studio, nor was it ever intended for public release during his lifetime. Instead, Elvis’s cover is a famous “home recording” made in 1966.
Elvis Presley’s home recording of 500 Miles officially came out for the first time in December 1999. It first showed up on the compilation album In a Private Moment, which was put out by RCA/BMG using their special collector’s label called Follow That Dream (FTD).
AT A GLANCE