1973 Songs: Hearts of Stone

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The madness is over in Louisville. More on that later. Let’s celebrate 50 years ago, when Secretariat set the record for Derby victories with his 1:59 2/5 prance around the track. While we’re talking 1973, here’s another song from that year. Hearts of Stone - Blue Ridge Rangers “Blue Ridge Rangers”? Ha. John Fogerty couldn’t disguise his voice no matter how hard he tried. After the end of Creedence Clearwater Revival he decided to take a back road, quite literally: he did an album of country classics. So what’s this song, originally by an R&B doo-wop group, doing on the album???? Yes, this was originally a doo-wop R&B song, first by the Jewels (members of which wrote the song), then the Charms. The Fontane Sisters sped it up a little for their biggest hit in 1954. Well, it just so happens that country singer Red Foley also recorded the song in 1954, using the same tempo that the Fontane Sisters did. (I can’t find the recording date for the Fontane Sisters’ rendition, but Foley recorded his version in November 1954, so it’s most likely that he copied their version.) So Fogerty sneaked in an R&B song via Red Foley. I love this version! Hearts of Stone Written by Eddy Ray and Rudy Jackson Recorded by the Blue Ridge Rangers From Blue Ridge Rangers, 1973 Everybody knows, I thought you knew: