(Ghost) Riders in the Sky
(Ghost) Riders in the Sky , full title: (Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend , is a country and cowboy song from 1948. The composer was national park ranger Stan Jones , who also wrote a western song . The original version from 1949 is from Burl Ives . Hundreds of cover versions have been recorded since then . Similar to the TV series title song Rawhide or the theme tune of the well-known Western series Bonanza , (Ghost) Riders in the Sky is one of the best-known and most interpreted crossover pieces in Western music.
Emergence
(Ghost) Riders in the Sky was created as an occasional composition. Stan Jones, the author of the play, worked as a park ranger in Death Valley National Park , California in 1948 . Assigned by the National Park Service as a contact person for film teams who did field shoots on site, he soon found a wider audience for his stories and songs. One of those songs was (Ghost) Riders in the Sky - a simple cowboy song that Jones performed on his guitar . The story of the song was about a cowboy vision: ghost riders who appear in the sky and suggest the song singer to change his life - otherwise he was doomed to join the ghost riders and forever chase the devil's herd across the endless sky. The exact origin of the story is debatable. After the success of his composition, Jones himself stated that he had the idea of a wandering cowboy . In addition, the story of (Ghost) Riders in the Sky is heavily based on Die Wilde Jagd , a Germanic saga from the early Middle Ages .
Film crew members soon encouraged Jones to look for a publisher for his songs in Los Angeles . The first recording of Ghost Riders in the Sky was made in February 1949 . The interpreter was Burl Ives - an actor and folk singer who regularly worked for film productions . Ives' original version, recorded for Columbia Records , made it onto the Billboard charts in April 1949 . With the highest ranking in 23rd place, however, it missed the top 20 margin. A version that appeared almost at the same time won the race - that of the famous big band leader Vaughn Monroe . Monroe, who recorded his own version immediately after Ives' recording, made the piece popular across the country and ultimately worldwide: it reached first place on the Billboard hit parade and remained in the charts for 22 weeks.
In the same year, other singers recorded the song - including Gene Autry , who adapted the piece as the title song for the film Riders in the Sky , the swing chanteuse Peggy Lee , the crooner Bing Crosby and the entertainer Spike Jones . Another interpretation from the same year comes from Frank Sinatra - but only as a radio recording. Background: As part of the program Your Hit Parade , Sinatra sang almost all of the tracks on May 21 and 28 - a procedure that is unique in the history of the show, including those of his fellow singers. The piece quickly became popular beyond the United States . In Germany it was covered by the pop singer Gerhard Wendland ; the German title was Geisterreiter. A French version was published under the title Les Cavaliers du Ciel - also in 1949 - interpreted by the vocal group Les Compagnons de la chanson .
Cover versions and adaptations
According to the track listing in the iTunes Music Store , several hundred different versions of the piece had been recorded by the end of 2012 - in the classic swing and crooner style ( Kay Starr , Elvis Presley , Dean Martin ), as a pop ballad ( Tom Jones , Debbie Harry ), as Folk or country song ( Peter, Paul and Mary , The Sons of the Pioneers , Frankie Laine ), as rock , metal or punk number ( Outlaws , Impaled Nazarene , Ghoultown , Chrome Division , Spiderbait ), in the Neoswing and burlesque styles ( Lee Press-on and the Nails , Scatman Crothers ) or, appropriately adapted, as Klezmer comedy (Borscht Riders in the Sky in the version by Mickey Katz & His Kosher Jammers). Two well-known versions from later years come from Johnny Cash (1978) and the Blues Brothers (1978) - a revival band that became known through the film of the same name. The piece was adapted for the film adaptation of the Marvel comic book Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage (title piece: the formation Spiderbait) and an episode of the TV series Sesame Street (title: The Dirtiest Town in The West). In addition, there are numerous instrumentally recorded variants - in melody and rhythm partly deviating from the original in surf guitar style ( Dick Dale , Duane Eddy , Chris Mike , Los Babies ), as an orchestral replay or as a brass piece such as Marchegger's Orchestra or the Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn brass band.
In addition to English-language variants, there are also numerous in other national or lingua franca. A Spanish version comes from the opera tenor Mario del Monaco , a Portuguese version from the Brazilian singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento , and a Finnish version from the entertainer Solistiyhtye Suomi. The German-language Geisterreiter original by Wendland has also received other recordings over the years - including by Tom Astor , Rita Paul and Götz Alsmann (both solo and in a duet with Die Ärzte musician Bela B. ) Another version with completely different In 2007, Text (BMW 501) offered the time-critical 1950s revue production Petticoat and Schickedance . The original song also turned out to be extremely changeable in terms of the textual statement: In the 1980s, for example, the Irish songwriter Gerry O'Glacain adapted the piece as a battle and mobilization song for the IRA . The new title chosen by O'Glacain - The SAM Song - was an allusion to anti-aircraft missiles of Soviet design, which the IRA used against British troops in Northern Ireland . As part of the Irish Rebel Music , this version became a kind of underground hit that was played by formations of different musical orientations.
Others
- Comparisons with other well-known pieces came up again and again in the course of the song's history. The statement that the song melody is an adaptation of the well -known American civil war song When Johnny Comes Marching Home is not officially confirmed or denied - or at least closely based on it.
- According to various sources, the well-known Doors piece Riders on the Storm is also based on the Ghost Riders melody. The later Doors hit is said to have originated during a jam session in which the group improvised the ghost rider theme at the beginning.
- Different original names: The original title of the track was Riders in the Sky. The additional title information - especially the "Ghost" - was soon added. (Ghost) Riders in the Sky (with and without brackets around the ghost) is the generally accepted title today. On the other hand, the additional information "A Cowboy Legend" is less common - because it is too bulky.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Stan Jones ( memento June 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), westernmusic.com, accessed December 25, 2012
- ↑ a b c d Ghost Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend , Andreas Kroniger, the-main-event.de, accessed on December 25, 2012
- ^ Riders in the Sky . Interview with Charles Grean by Mike Streissguth. vaughnmonroesociety.org, accessed December 25, 2012
- ↑ The Sam Song. Gerry O'Glacain , antiwarsongs.org, accessed December 26, 2012
- ↑ For more background, see Ghost Riders In the Sky: The Wild Hunt and the Eternal Stampede , Weblog EsoterX, accessed on December 25, 2012 (Eng.)
- ↑ Riders On The Storm by The Doors , songfacts.com, accessed December 25, 2012