Walk Don’t Run Down a Hall of Mirrors

There’s an obit in the New York Times today for Johnny Smith, the guitarist who wrote the song “Walk, Don’t Run.” Smith’s recording of the song didn’t hit, but a few years later Chet Atkins covered it and that led to the Ventures version in 1959, which became a massive hit. Here’s Smith’s version:

The Venture’s version was so big, however, that Robert Stone used the sound of it wafting down New Orleans alleyways as a unifying thread through his great hallucinatory first novel, A Hall of Mirrors. Here is the Venture’s version:

2 thoughts on “Walk Don’t Run Down a Hall of Mirrors

  1. Always a huge fan of this tune, I never knew there was an original. We used to play it all punked up in The Sinatras and I am searching for a recording of it.

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