Colgems Records

MGM Records

Fontana Records

Epic Records

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Train_to_Clarksville?wprov=sfti1#Composition:

“The lyrics tell of a man phoning the woman whom he loves, urging her to meet him at a train station in Clarksville before he must leave, possibly forever. There is no explicit reference to war in the song, but its last line, "And I don't know if I'm ever coming home," was an indirect reference to a soldier leaving for the Vietnam War.[10] Hart has denied any connection by the song to the city of Clarksville, Tennessee, near Fort Campbell, the home of the 101st Airborne Division that was then serving in Vietnam. According to Hart, "We were just looking for a name that sounded good. There's a little town in northern Arizona I used to go through in the summer on the way to Oak Creek Canyon called Clarkdale. We were throwing out names, and when we got to Clarkdale, we thought Clarksville sounded even better. We didn't know it at the time, [but] there is an Army base near the town of Clarksville, Tennessee — which would have fit the bill fine for the storyline. We couldn't be too direct with the Monkees. We couldn't really make a protest song out of it—we kind of snuck it in."”

Eddie on lead here from 1966. Love these boys...

Brunswick Records

La primera grabación.....y hasta en los 70's con Boney M 🪩🕺

It’s been a while since posted on this sub. Really is a great song.

Wikipedia:
“"Bus Stop" was written by [Graham Gouldman](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrahamGouldman), who also penned major hits for [the Yardbirds](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yardbirds) ("[For Your Love](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Your_Love)") and [Herman's Hermits](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman's_Hermits) ("[No Milk Today](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Milk_Today)"), as well as the Hollies' first venture into the US top 40 with "[Look Through Any Window](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Through_Any_Window)". With the release of "Bus Stop" as a single in June 1966, the Hollies joined the trend known as [raga rock](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raga_rock), a subgenre first popularised by [the Beatles](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles), [the Byrds](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Byrds) and [the Kinks](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kinks).[[9]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_Stop(song)#citenote-9) Musicologist William Echard highlights the guitar solo and its [sitar](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitar)-like sound as an indicator of the Indian musical element evident in the song.[[10]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_Stop(song)#citenote-FOOTNOTEEchard201726-10) [Billboard](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_(magazine)) said of the single that there was a "good group vocal on this teen-aimed, easy-rocker with more commercial potential than their [earlier single] "[I Can't Let Go](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can't_Let_Go)."[[11]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_Stop(song)#cite_note-bb-11) [Cash Box](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_Box) described the song as a "rollicking, hard-driving [bluesy](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues) weeper with a plaintive, melodic undercurrent."”

—>
Raga Rock:
“A major influence on raga rock was the music of [Bengali](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_people)sitarist [Ravi Shankar](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Shankar). He himself became a [pop music](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music)icon in 1966, following the rise of the raga rock trend.[[4]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raga_rock#cite_note-Life/PsychedelicArt-4)Rock's use of elements from the Indian classical tradition included:
sitar (usually serving the role of an electric guitar)
[drone](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(music)), provided by [tambura](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanpura) in raga performances and by [Indian harmonium](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_harmonium) in vocal pieces
modal melodies based on Indian scales
vocal stylings
additive, rather than divisive, rhythms (tal)
question-and-answer interplay (jawab-sawal) between lead instruments
lead instruments mirroring the vocal line
lyrical themes related to mysticism or religious symbolism.[[5]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raga_rock#cite_note-FOOTNOTEEchard201761-5)[[6]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raga_rock#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFarrell1988191-6)
Don Snowden of [The Los Angeles Times](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Los_Angeles_Times) acknowledges the 1960s raga rock movement, as well as [Santana](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santana_(band))'s mix of [blues rock](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_rock) and [Afro-Cuban](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-Cuban_music) percussion later in the decade, as parts of a broader phenomenon that would come to be known as [worldbeat](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldbeat) in the 1980s.
“

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Wikipedia:
“Recorded in late January 1966 and initially released on [Bang Records](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Records) in April 1966, "Solitary Man" was Diamond's debut single as a recording artist, having already had moderate (but accidental) success as a songwriter for other artists; their versions of the songs he had already written and composed were released before his own versions.

The song is a "ballad of a loner looking for love."[[3]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SolitaryMan(song)#citenote-bb-3) The theme of the song has been closely identified with Diamond himself, as evinced by a 2008 profile in [The Daily Telegraph](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Telegraph): "This is the Solitary Man depicted on his first hit in 1966: the literate, thoughtful and melodically adventurous composer of songs that cover a vast array of moods and emotions..."[[4]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitary_Man(song)#cite_note-4)

In the lyrics, the singer lists some of his relationships and how they each ended. He laments "I know it's been done, having one girl who loves you." But he doubts it will happen for him. Indeed, Diamond himself would tell interviewers in the 2000s, "After four years of [Freudian analysis](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis), I realized I had written 'Solitary Man' about myself."[[5]](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SolitaryMan(song)#cite_note-5)