| "Oakie Boogie" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Jack Guthrie | |
| Released | 1947 |
| Format | 10-inch 78 rpm record |
| Genre | Western swing |
| Label | Capitol |
| Songwriter(s) | Johnny Tyler |
"Oakie Boogie" (sometimes "Okie Boogie") is a Western swing dance song written by Johnny Tyler in 1947. It is recognizable by its refrain:
Lehman Monroe "Johnny" Tyler was an American country musician.
When you do the Oakie Boogie, and do it Oklahoma style,
That mean old Oakie Boogie is bound to drive you wild.
Jack Guthrie's version (Capitol 341) reached number three on the charts in 1947 [1] and is often included in the list of the first rock and roll songs. The singing of "Oakie Boogie" is the only performance by Guthrie in a film— Ernest Tubb's Hollywood Barn Dance in 1947. [2]
Leon Jerry "Jack" Guthrie was a songwriter and performer whose rewritten version of the Woody Guthrie song "Oklahoma Hills" was a hit in 1945. The two musicians were cousins.
Ernest Dale Tubb, nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music. In 1948, he was the first singer to record a hit version of Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson's "Blue Christmas", a song more commonly associated with Elvis Presley and his late-1950s version. Another well-known Tubb hit was "Waltz Across Texas" (1965), which became one of his most requested songs and is often used in dance halls throughout Texas during waltz lessons. Tubb recorded duets with the then up-and-coming Loretta Lynn in the early 1960s, including their hit "Sweet Thang". Tubb is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Ella Mae Morse also recorded a version for Capitol which reached number 23 in 1952. [3] Her version was one of the first songs arranged by Nelson Riddle. [4] Speedy West played pedal steel guitar on the recording.
Ella Mae Morse was an American popular singer.
Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. His work for Capitol Records kept such vocalists as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Rosemary Clooney and Keely Smith household names. He found commercial and critical success again in the 1980s with a trio of Platinum albums with Linda Ronstadt. His orchestrations earned an Academy Award and three Grammy Awards.
Wesley Webb West, better known as Speedy West, was an American pedal steel guitarist and record producer. He frequently played with Jimmy Bryant, both in their own duo and as part of the regular Capitol Records backing band for Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others. The duo also recorded with non-Capitol artists in Los Angeles. In 1960, Speedy played on and produced Loretta Lynn's first single. West, who began playing a pedal steel guitar built by Paul A. Bigsby in 1948, was the first country steel guitarist to use a pedal guitar. Nashville players like Bud Isaacs would adopt it in the early 1950s.
The song has been recorded by many artists over the years.
