It is rare that I quote more than a sentence or two of Wikipedia, if at all, but some of the information in the first three paragraphs of the "Walk, Don't Run" article really says about as much or more than I might be inclined to say as an opening comment on the background of this song:
"Walk, Don't Run" is an instrumental composition written and first recorded by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith in 1954 ... After hearing a Chet Atkins recording of "Walk, Don't Run", the Tacoma-based instrumental rock band the Ventures released their version of the tune as a single in spring 1960 on Dolton Records. This version made the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #2 and reaching #3 on the Cash Box magazine chart for five weeks in August and September 1960 ...
This single, their first national release, vaulted the Ventures' career ... Bob Bogle played the lead guitar part on this first Ventures recording of the song. The band would later rerecord the song in 1964, and would become the first band to score two top ten hits with two versions of the same song."
Now for MY comments. I love this original version, and Bob Bogle's expert use of the vibrato bar may be one of the best ever done. I will say this, the late John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service is the only other lead guitar player I have ever heard who could use the vibrato bar in the strategic manner it was INTENDED to be used. So many kids I knew growing up on rock music and playing lead guitar overused the vibrato bar and always in the wrong places. I can't help but to think that Cipollini was both impressed and influenced by Bogle's professional and polished playing of "Walk, Don't Run" (1960 version). As a result, I can't listen to some of Quicksilver's best music without also thinking of this one truly great Ventures tune.
I don't know how many of you remember this but the band also released a "Play Along With The Ventures" album and an instruction booklet showing where to place your fingers on the frets on each song to learn how to play lead guitar. It was one of the ways I learned how. As for the popularity of neighborhood bands playing Ventures music, I can only say that in the early 60's and into '64, on spring and summer days the girls would be sitting on stairs of porches and out in the lawn just eating up all the guitar playing. Between listening to and watching Ricky Nelson playing on "The Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet" and these local bands playing for throngs of mostly young, cheering females, it is little wonder so many of us wanted to form our own rock bands when we got older.
