Light On Dark Water

Ben E. King: Don’t Play That Song

Weekend Music

I think I'll continue in the vein of last week's post: love songs from the early '60s or so, which is to say, my puppy love years. This song was a follow-up to Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" and is an imitation, musically, including pretty much the same bass riff. I had a crush on a girl–I think her name was Sherry–and this song got associated with that. I have a memory of standing at the door of one of the barns at the Alabama Junior Cattlemen's Association convention in Montgomery and hearing this from a radio somewhere nearby and feeling very lovelorn. The song came out in 1962 so I would have been fourteen.

 

Yes, I was a Junior Cattleman. And I liked it, especially the convention, where we exhibited our steers and sold them. That was sort of tough, because their next stop would be the slaughterhouse, but we learned to accept it. There was also a rodeo, and I liked that a lot.

Not surprisingly, of the half dozen or so most vivid memories I have of that convention, two are musical. The other one is Dale Robertson (minor cowboy actor) entertaining at the rodeo and singing "Ghost Riders In the Sky".  Well, let's have that one, too. Here's a good Johnny Cash version.

 

Such a great song.

So cowboy, change your ways today 
Or with us you will ride
Trying to catch the devil's herd
Across this endless sky

Still gives me a chill. I first heard it as a Ventures-style guitar instrumental–I can't remember who the artist was, maybe it was actually the Ventures–and even without the words I liked it. And when I heard the title I felt a physical thrill: an early instance of my responding to poetry before I really knew what it was.

 

7 responses to “Ben E. King: Don’t Play That Song”

  1. Janet

    I miss 45s.
    I really love Ghost Riders in the Sky.
    I always thought (well, once I was a mom)that kids that were in 4-H and Junior Cattlemen and stuff like that really were fortunate to have had that experience. They seemed to be doing real stuff and not just messing around.
    AMDG

    Reply
  2. Mac

    We certainly were. We spent a lot of time with those steers and had a lot of responsibility for them. It was definitely not Disney-ish nature sentimentality.
    I felt nostalgic when I saw that 45.

    Reply
  3. Rob G

    The version of ‘Ghost Riders’ that I remember from childhood is the one by Frankie Laine. Must’ve been a late 50s or early 60s version, as I first heard it probably around ’65 or ’66. I had an uncle that liked country music and had a lot of records (Eddy Arnold was his favorite singer).

    Reply
  4. Mac

    I’ve heard the Frankie Laine one. I’d probably like it if I’d heard it first, but now it seems a bit overdone. The Sons of the Pioneers have a good version.
    I guess that Dale Robertson rendition must have been the first time I heard the words. I remember wondering about the instrumental version whether it was just an evocative title (not that I would have used the word “evocative”), or if it had lyrics, and if so whether and how they did justice to the title.

    Reply
  5. Rob G

    I saw the Sons of the Pioneers singing “Cool Clear Water” the other night in some old movie my dad had recorded. He showed me that part and was laughing because he remembered a Spike Jones version where everytime the singer sang “water” he’d get a cupful in the face.
    Actually the S.O.T.P. were pretty darn good! When I was a kid I had some children’s records of cowboy songs — wish I still had them…

    Reply
  6. Mac

    Oh yeah, I think the Sons of the Pioneers are great, and that song in particular is really great. I have this LP (hope that link works).

    Reply
  7. Rob G

    That’s a great cover!

    Reply

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