Not a bad bit for a Friday night.
That old man sitting next to him is Marty Robbins. You might not recognize him because you think he should be dressed like a cowboy. But listen to the voice.
About twenty years earlier, he sounded like this.
7 comments:
"GunFighter Ballads and Trail Songs" (1959) was hugely successful, topping out at #6 on the pop charts, unprecedented for a country and western album. "El Paso" was the most popular track on the album but Robbins wrote 3 of the other songs. In retrospect (contemporary ratings of the best all time and my favorite) his "The Master's Call", a transparent variation of "Ghost Riders", was the best track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e22cEMXganQ
Another song, "Big Iron", may be one of the most listened to recordings of all time by virtue of it being the featured song of a video game, "Fallout New Vegas". The game sold more than 8 million copies. "Big Iron plays 4 or 5 times an hour and players typically spend 50-100 hours in the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=999RqGZatPs
I know the song by heart. Both of them: El Paso and Big Iron are two songs I can sing, if I have a mind to sing.
It's funny how few songs most people know well enough to sing outright anymore (as opposed to sing along with), much less are there songs you could walk into a bar and start singing and know almost everyone could join in if they were so inclined (pub songs). People never seem to talk about the degree to which diversity destroys certain communal links, but there you go.
It's mostly Christmas carols, these days, that people can get together and sing without practice. I know a lot of Clancy Brothers songs, though; and a fair amount of outlaw country.
In consideration of others, when I sing I sing alone.
Yes, Grim, good point. It's one of the many wonderful things about Christmastime.
I still have the album, it is extremely worn and scratched. I literally wore the damn thing out. Got it for Christmas about 1960. Drove my folks so crazy playing it over and over. They gave me my own stereo for my birthday the following February.
Post a Comment