Posted on 05/19/2024 3:29:16 PM PDT by Twotone
~yesterday...I played America's Number One record from exactly three-quarters of a century ago - May 1949:
Listeners seemed to enjoy it, and many wanted to know more about it. I don't blame them. It's extremely catchy for a song with no consistent title: "Ghost Riders in the Sky"? "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky"? "Riders in the Sky"? "Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)"? Or maybe you prefer just plain "Ghost Riders", or "Ghostriders", or half-a-dozen other variations over the years.
But, however you label it, it's a song unlike any other. It made its appearance seventy-five years ago, and shortly thereafter versions by Peggy Lee, Bing Crosby and Burl Ives chased Vaughn Monroe up the hit parade, to be followed over the decades by Frankie Laine, Dean Martin, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, the Doors, Blondie's Debbie Harry, the DNA Vibrators, and the German heavy metal band Die Apokalyptischen Reiter. But, with all due respect to those fine vocal artistes, the song's melodrama is made for a big-voiced baritone like Vaughn Monroe. On May 14th 1949 he and his orchestra hit Number One on the Billboard chart, and America was gripped by one of the spookiest tales ever to haunt the jukebox:
An old cowpoke went riding out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red-eyed cows he saw
A-plowin' through the ragged skies and up a cloudy draw
Yippee-yi-yay, yippee-yi-yo
The ghost herd in the sky...
A ghost herd in the sky? Where did that come from? From a guy called Stan Jones - and it was, as they say on the TV movies, based on a true story.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
The Outlaws did it best…….
I’ve got monroe’s version on my car’s playlist.
I also liked the Blues Brothers version...
I was born in May of ‘49 and have enjoyed that song my whole life. I recall singing the refrain when I was three. Other than “Rockabye Baby”, it was my first favorite song.
“Crosby is fine, although he takes it, as he did most things, in his stride - so that the overall effect is “Hey, there’s some zombie cowboys stampeding ghost cows across the sky, but it’s no big deal...”
He always cracks me up.
Respectfully disagree. Sons of the Pioneers......
Such a great recording. Close your eyes and it’s scary!
Ghost Chickens In The Sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WOP9dW-F78
Cowboy gothic...
There is a dark side to the American Cowboy legend, the nearest thing to the universal symbol of the American spirit.
Mostly poorly-paid rural workers, with no roots and an uncertain future, this was the ultimate test of whether a young fellow “has what it takes”.
But the tests of endurance and perseverance never seem to end, and the rewards, if any, are a disappointment even to the most patient of souls. But slog on these young men do, for this is no country if one has grown old, and there is no forgiveness for failure.
With all due respect to the Sons of the Pioneers, I gotta go with The Outlaws as well
Lord of the Rings - Ghost Riders - Outlaws
https://youtu.be/nceeTDWVv0c
My favorite version of “Ghost Riders” is the one done by Judy Collins. I suppose that’s because I have an affinity for female singers.
I will tell you this. Maybe it’s just the venue. But no one does “Rawhide” better than the Blues Brothers.
Head ‘em up! Move ‘em out!
https://youtu.be/RdR6MN2jKYs?si=eC5bNdnaUGWVl-T3
Cool.
I’ll have to check Collins version...thanx.
I didn’t like Ives voice for that song...way too high pitched for my tastes.
I already posted the Blue Brothers Version. This too is a good version, but the Blues Brothers version still wins in my book. 👍
I agree with that
“The Outlaws did it best…….”
Em. Hello. Ya.
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