Lawrence Welk plays the last of his TV WESTERN THEME SONGS (1958)

Here you go - the last four tracks of this classic LP. Bust out the champagne and cock an ear, buckaroos.

Bud Wattles and his Orchestra finish up THEMES FROM THE HIP

The last four tracks of this 1959 LP for you gunslingin' daddy-os. The first two batches are HERE. 

Hear it here: DAVY CROCKETT IN CONGRESS by the Plymouth Players (1956)

Since Disney couldn't slap a copyright on old Davy (except for ©Walt Disney's Official Davy Crockett), Davymania marketing was a free-for-all the '50s. One of the outfits joining in was Plymouth Records, producing three albums to complement the first three episodes of the series. Here's the second in the Plymouth series. Stay tuned for the finale,  DAVY CROCKETT AT THE ALAMO, 

This time, we find Davy breaking into song in the halls of Congress (Gee, who wouldn't?) as he patches up the crack in the Liberty Bell. The album jacket credits "Scotty MacGregor with the Plymouth Players," so I can only guess that's Scotty singing the TV theme and the rest of the songs.

For the rest of the story, you'll want to check out this great book, which I reviewed HERE, with comments by Allen J. Wiener HERE, a never-before-published letter by old Davy HERE, and more news and reviews HERE.

Musketeers!

This is my favorite show of the past few years, now in it's third (and reportedly final) season. Along with a rousing theme song (above), the action is peppered with humor (minus, of course, the subtitles employed in the video below).

"77 SUNSET STRIP" by Mel Henke & his Orchestra (cool!)

The Theme from Richard Diamond (1959)

One of the coolest TV mystery themes ever . . .

Surfside Six and Hawaiian Eye

Themes from a couple of 77 Sunset Strip spin-offs . . .

Salute the 4th with Johnny Tremain and the Sons of Liberty

If you're an old-time devotee of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, you're sure to have seen the two-part presentation of Johnny Tremain (also released as a 1957 theatrical version). Johnny and his grown-up pals the Sons of Liberty, including such folk as Paul Revere, James Otis and Sam Adams, are beating the drum for American independence. Their idea of a good party is to dress up like Indians and dump tea into Boston Harbor.

Please pardon the crackles and pops in this recording. It came from an honest-to-goodness phonograph record - one of those little 6-inch yellow 78s. The song was written by Tom Blackburn and George Bruns, the immortal duo who brought us "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".

Here's the song:

"Johnny Tremain" by Mitch Miller and the Sandpipers

Marx issued this cool Sons of Liberty Playset

A recast of the Paul Revere figure from the Marx set

A Double Shot of Hawaii Five-O

Forgotten Music: The Vocal Stylings of Nick "The Rebel" Adams

What? You didn't know Nick Adams was a singer? Well, maybe he wasn't. But he did release three 45s - a total of six songs - back in the neighborhood of 1959, and I present them here for your consideration. For marketing purposes, no doubt, each disc had one tune with "Rebel" in the title. The flip sides of two were also Civil War related. Surprisingly, the B-side of the third is decidedly un-Rebelish.

Nick's voice aside, these are good well-produced songs. The instrumentation is fine and the background singers first-rate. With today's technology they probably could have made Nick sound as good as Frankie Laine. As it is . . . well, you be the judge.

The label for "Johnny Yuma, The Rebel" credits Andrew J. Fenady, the show's creator and screenwriter, as a co-writer on the song. The lyrics, I presume. I was surprised to see that "Tired and Lonely Rebel" was co-written by Dorsey Burnette. Surprised, because I find it the weakest of the Rebel-related songs. And Burnett took full credit for "It Could Have Been Different", which is a real turkey. Burnette penned some fine tunes back when, including "Tall Oak Tree". Tsk, tsk.

A tip on playing these songs: If you listen to a song all the way to the end, you should have no problem playing another. BUT, if you stop one before the finish, the system can get touchy. It may say "Connecting" and never actually connect. If that happens, just refresh the page and you should be good to go. 

Johnny Yuma, The Rebel (Markowitz-Fenady) by Nick Adams

Born a Rebel (S Ross-J Haskell) by Nick Adams

Tired and Lonely Rebel (Dorsey Burnette-Joe Osborn) by Nick Adams

Bull Run (S Silbert-R Freed) by Nick Adams

The Ballad of Scatter Gun Hill (Livingston-Adelson) by Nick Adams

It Could Have Been Different (Dorsey Burnette) by Nick Adams


I wish I could report that The Rebel series is commercially available on DVD. Not so, though you can find some decent homemade efforts on eBay. There is, however, a novel (of sorts) by Andrew J. Fenady. I must advise you it reads like a synopsis of several episodes of the series, but for those needing a Johnny Yuma fix, it should do the trick.

For links to more of this month's Forgotten Music, visit Scott Parker's blog. We'll have more on the last Thursday of next month. Why not join us?

"Zorro" by Mitch Miller and the Sandpipers

I've been in a Zorro mood of late, so I thought I'd give you a listen to my favorite version of the Disney theme song. Mitch Miller (some years before his singalong show) is leading the orchestra, while the singing is provided by the Sandpipers. Are these the same Sandpipers who later did "Guantanamera"? I don't know.

Golden Records released this on both 45 (as shown) and 78 (remember those little yellow records?) with Part I on one side and Part II on the other. Here you get both parts, and you don't even have to flip over your computer.

"Zorro" by Mitch Miller and the Sandpipers

Forgotten Music: FESS PARKER

Given recent events, this seems the appropriate time to remember the musical stylings of Mr. Fess Parker.

You've probably heard at least one of his four versions of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett", but Fess didn't stop there. He recorded enough other stuff to fill two whole LPs - and then some.

Over half of Fess's musical output is now available on two CDs (see them HERE.) Several of those tunes are featured on YouTube, but a couple of my favorites are not, and I present them for you here:

"Be Sure You're Right" by Fess Parker & Buddy Ebsen

"King of the River" by Fess Parker

For links to more of today's Forgotten Music, visit the master deejay Scott Parker.

Wyatt Earp - plus - Chilly Billy the Real Cool Kid??

Here's a tune worthy of The Dr. Demento Show. The reason for this 1957 Golden Record's existence is the popular theme from The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. But they had to do something with the flip side - and what they did was this amazing thing called "The Saga of Billy the Kid". So sit back, crank up the Almanack's mp3 player, and let (Sing Along with) Mitch Miller and the Sandpipers entertain you. It's interesting that Mitch and the gang did "Wyatt Earp" acappella, as it was done by the Ken Darby Singers for the TV show.

"Wyatt Earp" by Mitch Miller & the Sandpipers

"The Saga of Billy the Kid" by Mitch Miller & the Sandpipers

The TV Show I Loved: Davy Crockett

Yeah, I know. It's a no-brainer. When Patti Abbot put out the call for folks to muse on this subject today, I knew this show would have to be the one. I loved a lot of others too, of course, and could just as happily have picked Zorro, or Maverick, or The Swamp Fox. But this, is, after all, Davy's Almanack, and he hangs around peering over my shoulder at everything I write. He'd make life a living hell if I denied him this honor.

Besides, Davy's was the first show that captivated me so thoroughly, and I reckon it's had the longest lasting effect. Yes, I still say "reckon" and "ain't" on a regular basis, and while those words were certainly not invented by Davy or Disney, it was this show that drove them so deep into my vocabulary that they ain't never coming out.

Another thing that stuck with me was Davy's attitude, and his motto: Be sure you're right, then go ahead. Davy relied on his own common sense. When told what to do, he'd do it - providing it made sense. But if orders or social conventions didn't jibe with his notion of common sense, he'd just grin and ignore 'em. And though I've sometimes struggled with the grinning part, I believe I have the ignoring down pat.

This show had everything. Action, adventure, humor, and a catchy theme song tying it all together. And there were so many great scenes: Davy trying to grin down the bear. Davy facing down General Jackson's cannon. His half-horse, half-alligator speech to Congress. Swinging his rifle as the last defender of the Alamo. Making Mike Fink eat his hat.

For all the effect it had on the culture of the time (1954-55), I'm still amazed it only lasted five episodes. In fact, Disney only planned to make three, finishing with Davy's last stand at the Alamo, but the public acclaim (and merchandising craze) was so powerful they brought him back from the dead for two more episodes. To further satisfy demand, the first three episodes were pieced into the feature film Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955) and the last two became Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956).

And the song! In 1955 alone, the Bill Hayes version made #1 on the Billboard charts, Fess Parker's version (the second of four he recorded) made #5 and Tennessee Ernie Ford made it to #7. I don't know how many times it's been recorded, but it must be close to a hundred. I have over 60 versions myself.

The Kentucky Headhunters did a great video rendition inspired by Beatles films, which you can watch on YouTube. I'd post it for you here on the Almanack, but it says "Embedding disabled by request", which I find pretty pissy. Instead, here's old Fess singing it himself:

Start the day with "The Saint"

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This is one of the coolest TV themes ever, and never fails to get my juices flowing - especially when performed by Roland Shaw. But I can't hear it anymore without recalling Gary Dobbs' hilarious piece, How to Emulate the Saint on a Limited Budget. If you missed it the first time, it ain't too late.

"The Saint" by The Roland Shaw Orchestra

Johnny Cash, Johnny Yuma and Ricky Nelson??

You've all heard Johnny Cash sing "The Rebel - Johnny Yuma". But Johnny also wrote and recorded a second Rebel song, sometimes known as "Johnny Yuma - The Rebel" and sometimes "The Ballad of Johnny Yuma".

But here's the weird part: Cash actually wrote the song, originally titled "Restless Kid," for Ricky Nelson to sing in the film Rio Bravo. When Dimitri Tiomkin nixed it for the movie, the track appeared on the 1959 LP Ricky Sings Again, and Cash recycled the tune as a new Yuma song. Here are video presentations of all three:

Johnny Cash sings "Bonanza"

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Lorne Greene stopped by to sing this for us some weeks back, and I mentioned the vocal version had also been recorded by Johnny Cash. Well, David Cranmer was (sort of) singing a Cash tune the other day, right here, and it reminded me this was still on the to-be-played list. So here he is, ladies and gents, The Man in Black crooning the ballad of the Ponderosa boys.

"Bonanza" by Johnny Cash

Alfred Hitchcock Presents... A Swingin' Tune

...for swingin' by your neck, that is. Ralph Marterie and his Marlboro Men, who did Perry Mason for us a while back, return with their hip rendition of The Alfred Hitchcock Theme, also known as "Funeral March of a Marionette". Hit it, Ralph...

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" 
by Ralph Marterie and his Marlboro Men

Duane Eddy Twangs "Paladin"

Back in 1962, Duane Eddy hit #33 on the charts with this rockin' rendition of "The Ballad of Paladin." Among the tunes beating him out were "The Loco-Motion" by Little Eva, "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" by Neil Sedaka, and "Ahab, the Arab" by Ray Stevens.

"The Ballad of Paladin" 
by Duane Eddy

Swingin' with "Perry Mason"

You've heard this theme a thousand
times. Maybe a million. But Ralph Marterie and his Marlboro Men (I kid you not) give it a new kind of cool on this track from the 1959 LP "Music for a Private Eye." It'll make you want to rush out for a pack of Marlboros. Also on the album: themes from Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Gunn, The Thin Man, Richard Diamond, 77 Sunset Strip...  Stay tuned.

"Perry Mason" by Ralph Marterie & his Marlboro Men