Along Came Jones (song)

Last updated
"Along Came Jones"
Single by The Coasters
B-side "That Is Rock & Roll"
ReleasedMay 1959
RecordedMarch 26, 1959
Genre Rock and roll
Length2:53
Label Atco
Songwriter(s) Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
The Coasters singles chronology
"Charlie Brown"
(1959)		"Along Came Jones"
(1959)		"Poison Ivy"
(1959)

"Along Came Jones" is a comedic song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and originally recorded by the Coasters, [1] in 1959 peaking at number 9 in the Billboard Hot 100 but recorded by many other groups and individuals in the years that followed.

Contents

The song

Told from the perspective of a person watching television, the song tells of the interaction between a hero ("Jones"), a bad gunslinger ("Salty Sam") and a ranch owner ("Sweet Sue") on an unnamed television show.

The television shows feature various "damsel in distress" scenarios, whereby Sam abducts Sue and places her in peril, intending to force her to give him the deed to her ranch or face a gruesome death:

However, Sue is rescued each time, and Sam's plans foiled, by the hero, a "tall, thin", "slow-walkin'", "slow-talkin'", "long, lean, lanky" fellow named Jones. How — or even if — Jones defeats Sam and rescues Sue is never told. [1]

The tenor saxophone heard on this record by The Coasters is King Curtis, who played the saxophone on many of their hits.

Origins and meaning

Westerns were the most popular genre on TV and film in the 1950s and early 1960s. In mocking their inescapable presence, the song takes inspiration from the 1945 Gary Cooper film Along Came Jones , a comedy Western. In the film the "long, lean, lanky" Cooper lampoons his usual "slow-walkin', slow-talkin'" screen persona. The music for the film was composed by Arthur Lange, mentor to songwriter Mike Stoller.

Historian Ken Emerson notes of the song: "What was original in the humor of 'Along Came Jones' was not its parody of shoot-'em-ups … What was new were black voices mocking an iconic Caucasian genre fifteen years before Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles . Leiber's original lyrics sharpened the racial angle by calling attention to the hero's white hat, white boots, and faithful white horse. Those lines did not pass muster with Jerry Wexler, the executive producer at Atlantic to whom Leiber and Stoller generally reported." [2]

Chart performance

The Coasters

Chart (1959)Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 [3] 9
US Hot R&B Sides (Billboard) [4] 14

Later Versions

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References

  1. 1 2 Leiber & Stoller interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
  2. ↑ Emerson, Ken (2005). Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era . Viking Adult. p.  56. ISBN   978-0670034567.
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 117.
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 125.
  5. ↑ The Righteous Brothers, Sayin' Something Retrieved February 7, 2012
  6. ↑ Ray Stevens chart positions Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  7. ↑ Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart, Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart Retrieved February 7, 2012
  8. ↑ Henri Salvador - Zorro est Arrivé - EMI Records (France) Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ "Her skal jeg fortelle om min første singel". 10 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "Sellabration: Beaurepaires Tyres". Nga Taonga Sound & Vision.
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