Jambalaya (On The Bayou) - Cover Versions

Cover Versions

A version of the song was recorded by Jo Stafford in 1952, reaching #3 on the Billboard pop charts (and making the song well known to people other than country music fans). Mitch Miller had originally intended "Jambalaya" to be recorded by Jimmy Boyd for Columbia Records. Boyd turned the song down and Miller recorded it with Jo Stafford. Years later Jimmy Boyd did record it for Dot Records. It was further popularized in a Rock'n'Roll version by Fats Domino.

The Carpenters featured the song, in an uptempo MOR version with country flourishes, on their 1973 album Now & Then. Their version was released as a single outside the United States in 1974 and sold well in the UK (peaking at number 12 in the charts) and Japan.

Other artists who have performed the song includeThe Meters, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy C. Newman, Leon Russell, Charley Pride, Jimmy Buffett, Jeff Healey on his 2008 album Mess of Blues, Emmylou Harris included it in her 1976 album Elite Hotel, Moon Mullican, John Fogerty (whose version hit #16 in 1973 under the name of The Blue Ridge Rangers), Gerry and the Pacemakers, Brenda Lee, Harry Connick, Jr., Lucinda Williams, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (whose version peaked at #84 in 1972), Billy "Crash" Craddock, George Jones, The Residents, Leo Kottke, Wes Paul, Dolly Parton, Roomful of Blues, Andy Kaufman, Professor Longhair, Shocking Blue, Freddy Fender, The White Stripes, Tab Benoit, and Tommy Funderburk (appearing in the film Steel Magnolias), Van Morrison and Linda Gail Lewis on their 2000 album You Win Again, and The Residents among many others.

A recording by The Tanner Sisters with orchestra Cond.: Don Carlos was made in London on September 25, 1952. It was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 10418.

Ex-Hong Kong female singer, CHANG Loo (張露), covered this song twice. The first version was covered in Mandarin Chinese entirely, under title name of 小癩痲 in the mid 1950s. The second one was covered, in alternate English and Mandarin Chinese, under title name of Jambalaya/小癩痲, on her LP album An Evening With Chang Loo in 1963. In 1978, another Hong Kong female singer, Paula Tsui (徐小鳳), covered the Mandarin Chinese version made by CHANG Loo, on her LP album 風雨同路.

In 1974, Singapore-based female singer, Ervinna, covered this song, on her LP album Top Hits Vol. 2 with the local White Cloud Records.

In India, Usha Iyer (now Usha Uthup) recorded a version in 1968 on the HMV label, that became the best selling song until then, by an Indian artist in English.

International, translated or derived versions do exist at least in Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, Italian, Polish (as 'Baju-baj, proszę pana' recorded by Anna Jantar), German and Estonian. In 2005, two versions of "Jambalaya" surged in Mexican folk music, one by Banda Limón and the other from the Duranguense group K-Paz de la Sierra. However, in Mexican music, the most famous cover version is by Los Felinos.