Back in the U.S.A. Phil Chess and the song was released as Chess single 1729. Alan Dale issued the song in Australia on Colombia in 1959 as a single along with a version of Bo Didley's "Crackin' Up"(45-DO-4086). Ronstadt had heard the Berry original while being driven around Los Angeles by Eagles member Glenn Frey who had once been in her band, the track being on a home-made cassette Frey had playing in his tape deck. Ronstadt recalls that she'd been reminding Frey "how we used to sit around the Troubadour bar and go: 'Oh it's so horrible and I can't get a record
He Was a Friend of Mine episode of the reality television series "" when the gay pop duo Nemesis recorded it for the album "Rise Up". This version was produced by Barry Manilow and released June 26, 2007. In 2014, Merrymouth, a folk band led by Ocean Colour Scene singer/songwriter Simon Fowler, recorded the song on their second album Wenlock Hill. The lyrics were adapted by the band (Fowler/Dan Sealey/Adam Barry) to be about the killing of John Lennon. The Grateful Dead commonly performed a song called "He Was a Friend of Mine" during live concerts between 1966 and 1970, but that song was in fact