Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Travelin' Man - Ricky Nelson

Travelin' Man - Ricky Nelson
2:23
Rick Is 21, 1961
Written by Jerry Fuller

This song was originally intended for Sam Cooke, but he passed on it, according to some accounts literally throwing it in the trash where it was rescued by Nelson's manager.  It's a song about a fellow who has a girl in every port: "Oh, my sweet fräulein down in Berlin town / Makes my heart start to yearn / And my China doll down in old Hong Kong / Waits for my return," and so forth.  Melodically, it's fairly simple, using an extremely common Brill Building progression and a melody built largely from chord tones. It has that conversational, stepwise motion that several early-'60s hits share.

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Travelin' Man - Ricky Nelson

Travelin' Man  - Ricky Nelson 2:23 Rick Is 21 , 1961 Written by Jerry Fuller This song was originally intended for Sam Cooke, but he pas...