"Whither Thou Goest" is a popular song written by Guy Singer. The song was published in 1954. The words are adapted from the Bible (Ruth 1:16-17) (King James Version).
The most popular version was recorded by Les Paul and Mary Ford. Other versions were made by Perry Como, Bing Crosby, George Morgan, Mahalia Jackson and Leonard Cohen. The song was a hit at its time.
The recording by Les Paul and Mary Ford was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 2928. It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on October 6, 1954 and lasted 9 weeks on the chart, peaking at #14.
"Whither Thou Goest" was recorded by George Morgan and released in early 1957 on a 12-inch Columbia 33 1/3 R.P.M. long play album entitled "Morgan, By George!". The Columbia standard "Red Label" LP was recorded prior to the advent of stereo in monophonic high fidelity in 1956 and was released in the winter of early 1957. The LP contains three other songs of much stronger gospel origins, "Oh, Gentle Shepard" by well-known songwriter Cindy Walker; "Mansion Over The Hilltop" and "Jesus Savior, Pilot Me". George Morgan's version of "Whither" is only two minutes and 13 seconds long on the LP and is performed in a medium-slow tempo at 3/4 metre and is composed mostly of lead guitars, a violin, muted rhythm cybal, acoustic bass and a small background singing group containing a soprano singer who backs Morgan quite strongly in the mix. It is the third song on side B of the Columbia LP containing 12 songs in all. Though a "pop" song, radio stations across the United States continue to program George Morgan's version as a gospel selection to this day.
The song was performed live by Leonard Cohen since 1988 and was released on his album Live in London (2009).