Hi Hans,

Yes - this must be one of the most widely recorded songs ever - here is a clip from Wikipedia re artists who have covered it:

Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Odetta, Les Paul, The Kingston Trio (who also recorded their song "The Tijuana Jail", which retains the same music but with new lyrics),[14] Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Burl Ives, Big Joe Turner, Bobby Darin, Cisco Houston, Jimmy Smith, Mungo Jerry, Van Morrison, Little Richard, Buckwheat Zydeco, Otis Rush, The Spencer Davis Group, Lonnie Donegan, Eric Clapton, The Louvin Brothers, Long John Baldry, The Kentucky Headhunters, Willie Watson, Mischief Brew, Hoyt Axton and Creedence Clearwater Revival, among others, have recorded the song. Jody Miller arranged her own version and included it on her first album Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe in 1963.

Harry Belafonte's 1962 version is notable for containing the first official recording of Bob Dylan, who played harmonica.[15]

Harry Dean Stanton performs the song in the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke.[16]

Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s 1969 version was used in the opening sequence of Twilight Zone: The Movie, in a scene featuring Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd enthusiastically singing along.

ABBA recorded the song in 1975 for charity, as a part of a folk medley, along with "Pick a Bale of Cotton" and "On Top of Old Smokey". It was the B-side to their 1978 single "Summer Night City". The medley represents the group's only recording of material not written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus after their breakthrough with "Ring Ring" in 1973.[17]

Dylan references a line from the song — "Shine your light on me" — on the second track, "Precious Angel", of his 1979 gospel album Slow Train Coming.[18]

Paul McCartney has performed it numerous times. It was the closing song on his 1988 album Снова в СССР and was performed on his 1991 appearance on MTV Unplugged, but was not included on the accompanying album.

Mischief Brew recorded a cover of "The Midnight Special" for their 2006 album, Songs From Under the Sink.

Best Regards
Nigel

Nigel Spiers
Christchurch, New Zealand
info@nzacoustics.com