Mule Train
By Marv Goldberg
© 2025 by Marv Goldberg
In the past, I've written about two 1940s musical phenomena: "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" and "Open The Door, Richard!". "Mule Train" was the final phenomenon of the decade, although it wasn't as world-wide as the other two. I'll be listing nearly 100 versions of the song, but most of them will have been produced in the United States, England, and Australia.
For a change, I'll start with the summary:
There were only ever five versions of "Mule Train" in the national Billboard charts: Frankie Laine, Bing Crosby, Vaughn Monroe, Gordon MacRae, and Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Billboard had lots and lots of charts, but the ones I'll consider here are "Pop", "Country & Western (C&W)", "Most Played By DJs", "Most Played By C&W DJs", "Most Played Juke Box Records", and "Most Played C&W Juke Box Records".
The highest positions reached by Frankie Laine were: #1 "Pop" (6 weeks), #1 "Most Played By DJs" (6 weeks), and #1 "Most Played Juke Box Records" (6 weeks). When Frankie Laine's version became #1, it pushed his own "That Lucky Old Sun" out of the top spot. On January 7, 1950, Frankie was, in turn, bounced from the top spot by Gene Autry's "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer".
Bing Crosby's highest position stats were: #5 "Pop" (4 weeks), #4 "Most Played By DJs" (3 weeks), and #4 "Most Played Juke Box Records" (1 week).
Vaughn Monroe's highest position stats were: #10 "Pop" (1 week), #10 "Most Played By DJs" (2 weeks), and #14 "Most Played Juke Box Records" (2 weeks).
Tennessee Ernie Ford's highest position stats were: #10 "Pop" (1 week), #9 "Most Played By DJs" (1 week), and #12 "Most Played Juke Box Records" (1 week). However, that was just the crossover. He was mainly on the C&W charts: #4 "C&W" (1 week), #1 "Most Played By C&W DJs" (4 weeks), and #3 "Most Played C&W Juke Box Records" (1 week).
Gordon MacRae's was only played by DJs, not bought in any appreciable numbers by the public. It turns up on the "Most Played By DJs" chart from November 26 through December 17 (never higher than #14).
What follows is the genesis of the song, as reported many times in the press over the years. (Note that I make no representation as to the truth of the reporting. Also, many of the articles contradict each other in specific details.)
What's not in doubt is that the song was written by three men: Fred Glickman, Hy Heath, and Johnny Lange, who copyrighted it on October 28, 1949 (after several artists had already recorded it.) I have to admit that I never heard of most of the other songs they'd written. Heath and Lange wrote "Clancy Lowered The Boom" and Louis Jordan's "Deacon Jones", Lange wrote "I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City", and, most important, Heath wrote "Benny The Beaver". Johnny Lange was, by the way, the father of actress Hope Lange.
For example, the November 3, 1949 Freeport, Illinois Journal Standard had this:
Hollywood, Nov. 3 - (AP) - Haw! Haw!
Clippety-clop. Clippety-clop.
You may expect to have your ears assaulted by these noises for the next few weeks. They are part of "Mule Train," a weird new song which is pouring forth incessantly from juke boxes and radios.
"Mule Train", which sounds more like a chant to a pack of mules than a song, hit the music trade like a cyclone. It has the record industry pressing night and day to meet the demand and beat the opposition.
Among the bigtime artists, Frankie Laine seems to have hit the market first. Vaughn Monroe, who thought he had the song tied up because it's in his picture, hurried it onto wax, followed by Gordon MacRae. Bing Crosby quickly recorded it and his disc was being played on the air two hours later. Burl Ives and Gene Autry are the latest to get on the bandwagon,
All this fuss over a song that was written 4 1/2 years ago,
It came about when three Hollywood songwriters went on a spree to Las Vegas. Fred Glickman, Hy Heath, and Johnny Lange were returning home after a week-end over a hot crap table.
As they drove through the borax country of Death Valley, they got to thinking about the fabulous mule teams that worked the desert mines. [The 20-mule teams that took borax out of Death Valley only operated between 1883 and 1889, although the product was called "20 Mule Team Borax". So, they were basing the song on a product name, rather than anyone's recollection of the actual mule teams.]
"We started working on a song as we drove," recalls Lange. "First we changed 'team' to 'train,' which sounded better in a lyric. By the time we reached town we had the song pretty well worked out."
Glickman, who is also in the record business, waxed the song with a singer named Buzz [sic; should be "Buz"] Butler, It was then forgotten. [Spoiler: it was recorded, but that version was never released.]
Forgotten until a few weeks ago, when Glickman, Heath and Lange met again in Hollywood. Glickman dusted off the old record and played it for the other two. They became enthused, polished up the lyrics and put it on the market.
The three tunesmiths are now clippety-clopping toward a tidy fortune.
This article, in several March 26, 1950 papers, such as the San Francisco Examiner, tells a different story of the song's genesis, one that was never mentioned in any previous account. It actually came from an article in the "American Weekly" magazine in the Chicago Herald-American:
THE highway stretched endlessly ahead, skirting desolate Death Valley. Johnny Lange, Hy Heath and Fred Glickman, three Hollywood songwriters, were heading home after a visit to Las Vegas, Nev. Nobody was talking. "We weren't even thinking," Lange said later. "We were just surviving. The inside of the car was like a furnace and the heat haze off the desert hurt our eyes."
They pulled up for gas at a roadside station, one of the few spaced along that lonely road. While they waited for the tank to be filled a grizzled old prospector, one of that hardy breed which even today seeks the ever-elusive gold vein, hove into view, heading from west to east on the highway.
He trudged along with stooped shoulders and behind him, weighted down with the baggage of the prospecting trade, there followed a string of pack mules. Their sharp hooves struck the hard road in rhythmic cadence, filling the heat-laden air with a startlingly loud clippity clop, clippity clop.
The three songwriters watched in silence until the prospector and his pack animals were no more than specks in the distance. But long after the sounds of their passage had gone - while the trio sped west again - the clippity clop of the mule hooves was still ringing in their ears.
"I don't remember which one of us spoke first," Lange related. "I think the idea hit all of us at the same time. Songwriters have an ear tuned for ideas 24 hours a day anyway - a catchy phrase, a funny incident, an odd occurrence, a tricky sound.
"At any rate, we had gone only a few miles before all of us were humming clippity clop, clippity clop...
"We agreed there was a song idea somewhere in the old prospector's trudging little mules. We got interested in it and kicked it around all the way back to Hollywood. By the time we arrived we had worked out the melody and lyrics for a song."
That was how "Mule Train", the song that zoomed to the top in radio and juke box popularity last fall, and is still a favorite, was born.
It was, however, to take three years for Lange, Heath and Glickman to recognize the value of their tune.
Glickman, who operates his own recording company, had "Mule Train" recorded by a singer and hillbilly instrumental trio. On the playback, it didn't sound like much. It was inaudible in spots.
Another day, another song, thought Glickman, and shoved it aside. That was okay with Lange and Heath. They were busy elsewhere and couldn't get excited over a tune they'd used to kill a ride home. So "Mule Train" was shuffled to the bottom of a stack of records in Glickman's shop and began gathering dust.
Almost three years later last fall Glickman asked Lange to drop by and listen to some recordings. There was nothing in particular Glickman wanted Lange to hear; it was a routine review songwriters often indulge in.
Glickman ran across the scratched, three- year-old recording of "Mule Train".
"Hey, Johnny," he asked, "remember that song we worked out that time on the way back from Las Vegas?" "Yeah," Lange responded. "You still got that kicking around? Let's hear what that thing sounds like." The forgotten record sounded fresh and different:
"Clippity cloppin' over hill and plain,
"Seems as how they never stop;
"Clippity clop, clippity clop.
"Clippity, clippity, clippity, clippity, clippity cloppin' along."
"Say maybe that's better than we thought," enthused Lange. They called in Heath to hear it again. All three decided they had a gold nugget in their hands. The next morning Lange took a recording to Abe Lyman, the orchestra leader. He said it was just the number he wanted for Vaughn Monroe in a picture, "Singing Guns", being made at Republic Studios.
"Mule Train" was a hit overnight. Within a few weeks, in addition to Monroe's there were recordings by Bing Crosby, Frankie Laine, and Gordon MacRae. Columbia Pictures paid $20.000 to use the title "Mule Train" for a Gene Autry film.
Within a few months nearly 3,000,000 records and 250,000 copies of sheet music had been sold.
"It swept the country so suddenly, like a house on fire, there was no explaining it," Lange recalled. "Juke boxes offered as many as five recordings by different singers at one time."
One Italian and two Mexican versions were turned out. During Christmas week the composers cashed in on the holiday season by fashioning a parody called "Yule Train".
Though the origin of "Mule Train" may have been largely accidental, its creators are far from novices in the song-writing field.
Lange and Heath, sometimes with a third collaborator, have written such favorites as "Clancy Lowered the Boom", "The Little Red Fox", "Deacon Jones", "Blue Shadows on the Trail", "Pecos Bill", and "Uncle Remus Said". Glickman is best known for his "Little Old Band of Gold".
It is estimated that the three songwriters have already made $75,000 from their chance song, with the royalties still coming in.
It is not known whether the old prospector ever found his bonanza but one thing, the songsters feel, is certain: his mules carried gold in their tiny hooves.
Here's what the November 5, 1949 Vallejo, California Times-Herald had to say, under the title of "Tunesmiths Complain Disc Jockeys Spin Baby To Death". By that date, the song, in all its many versions, was being played constantly on the radio.
HOLLYWOOD (UP) - Jules Losch and Abe Lyman are two very anxious papas who are fighting to keep their baby from being murdered. "Baby" is song publisher Losch's new hit, "Mule Train", that's swept the country after producer Lyman put it in a movie for Vaughn Monroe to warble. But baby's life may be snuffed out soon unless Losch and Lyman can get him halfway off the radio.
The disc jockeys, they mourn, are spinning their child to death. "We don't want the jockeys to stop playing 'Mule Train' altogether," said the harried Losch. "But we told them we hoped they'd stop playing it five times on one program.
"A friend of mine who loved the song at first now says it's driving him crazy because he hears it every place. A guy can lose more good songs that way."
The longer Losch can nurse his now famous baby along, the bigger the barrel of money he'll make. And Lyman has in mind his $400,000 investment in his picture, "Singing Guns". He doesn't want the public to scream at the bray of a mule before the film comes out next month.
"I've been in show business 30 years and I've never seen a song become such a big hit so fast," said bandleader Lyman. "The publishers promised the song wouldn't come until the first of December. They let it out and it's gotten away from us."
Mule Train" took a long time to get steam up. It was written. nearly four years ago by tunesmiths Johnny Lange, Fred Glickman and Hy Heath on their way home from a desert trip. Glickman, who runs a little recording company, got singer Buz Butler to wax the tune.
"I did the whip effects myself. But Buz muffed one word so I never released the record," explained Glickman. "Here I had a million bucks lying around and didn't know it."
Last month Glickman played the record for Lange for laughs. Lange hotfooted the tune to Losch at Walt Disney's new music publishing company and he snapped it up as the firm's first song and they took it to Lyman.
"We filmed a sequence around the song that cost $2,800," said the producer. "We even sent mules on location for the scene. Monroe recorded it for the movie and for records and introduced it on his radio show."
But before Lyman and Losch could crack a whip, Frankie Laine, Gordon MacRae and other crooners had their versions on wax. Bing Crosby crawled out of: bed at 7 a.m. to do the ditty and his records were sped to music shops four hours later.
The teamsters' union adopted the ditty as its official theme song. Laine's exuberant press agent sent 2,500 mule whips to: the nation's disc jockeys and led a team of confused mules down Hollywood boulevard.
"The sheet music came out only Thursday and we got 150,000 orders," said publisher Losch. "We hope record sales will hit three million, a new record, if only the song isn't played to death...."
Billboard had a couple of articles on October 8 and October 29, 1949, which can be summarized as follows:
On October 1, the Walt Disney Music Company sold "Mule Train" (its first non-Disney film property) to the Palomar production company, to be included in Vaughn Monroe's film, Singing Guns. He was supposed to have sung "Riders In The Sky", but the rights to use it were lost. Someone then suggested "Mule Train", which seemed like a good alternative. He and Republic were working out the rights with Walt Disney Music, when they found out that Frankie Laine had recorded it (on Sunday, October 16, with Mitch Miller himself doing the whip cracking). Their first reaction was to consider pulling "Mule Train" out of the film, but instead, they made a deal with Disney that allowed Monroe to introduce it earlier than originally planned, by singing it on his October 22 radio show. This was an attempt to associate the song with Monroe, rather than Laine (whose version wouldn't actually be released to DJs until the 24th). The public, however, disagreed. Billboard said in its October 29 review of Laine's version, "This one should be fast and big." It was.
So, to sum up the beginning: the song had been written a few years previously (of course, accounts differ as to how many), recorded by Buz Butler for a label (unnamed) that Fred Glickman owned, but never released, although he kept a dub of it.
However, Butler got another chance. The first commercial recording was made for Decca by singer/guitarist Buz Butler on October 7, 1949. In other words, the first artist to record the song, had now re-recorded it commercially. NOTE: on the Decca DJ copy, the flip side ("Money Ain't Everything") was starred, meaning that Decca was pushing that side, not "Mule Train".
Ellis "Buz" (sometimes seen as "Buzz") Butler was born July 28, 1925, in Georgia and died July 24, 2002 in Florida. He was raised in South Carolina and was still there in 1940. He supposedly enlisted in the Navy in WW2, but I can't find any dates. However, he gravitated to Los Angeles for some reason (possibly that's where the Navy discharged him), and he married there in 1947 (although his bride was from Michigan, to which they soon relocated). In March 1948 through March 12, 1949 he appeared in Lansing, Michigan. He went back to Los Angeles to record the tune on October 7, making his the earliest recording (for the second time). The 1950 census found him living in Los Angeles; his occupation was "singing - recording company".
The October 22, 1949 Billboard had a Decca ad with the names of all their artists; Buz's name wasn't there.
Considering how many times his name appears in papers after he'd recorded the song, almost all were for lists of people who'd waxed it and for mentions of other recordings he'd made. I could only find a single singing engagement after the record was released: a place called (fittingly enough) Mule Town in Los Angeles. He was first advertised on May 25, 1950, but only through June 1. The ad said that Buz Butler And His Muleskinners were broadcasting on KXLA, weekdays at 10:15 PM (the program was just called "Western Music").
Released sometime in October, it appeared in a November 5 Decca trade paper ad (obviously prepared at least a week before that) and was also in stores by November 4. It was on Decca's Country & Western series, which wasn't sent to the trades as enthusiastically as their other series, making its exact release date uncertain.
Considering it was the first release on the market, Billboard didn't deign to review Buz's version until December 17, 1949:
Buz Butler (70): Here's the disk that launched a thousand "Mule Trains" - the first waxing of the epic. It's unquestionably the definitive rendition, but will probably take the dust of the others. [My own take: compared to many other versions, it isn't very good. Even had Decca pushed it, it probably would never have become a hit.]
Actually, as we go along, you'll see that it took a very long time for Billboard to review some of the versions. I really don't know why.
And the madness began! The next known recording was by Frankie Laine (Mercury), on October 16. This was followed closely by Tennessee Ernie Ford (Capitol) on October 18, Gordon MacRae (Capitol) on October 21, Vaughn Monroe (RCA Victor) on October 23, Bing Crosby (Decca) on October 26, and Nelson Eddy (Columbia) on October 31. These are all big-name singers, so you know that big bucks were expected from the song. All of those, except Nelson Eddy's were released in October, his had to wait a few days longer. Also released in October was a version by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith & the Crackerjacks on M-G-M.
I also have to throw in Stuart Hamblen (who'd write "This Ole House"). He recorded it for Columbia, on October 27, but his version was never released.
Many of these will fall into the category of "Why Did They Do It?". Of course, the simple [actually the only] answer is: their record companies told them to. That's always the answer when it seems like Big Bucks are out there to be made.
The Frankie Laine, Nelson Eddy, and Tennessee Ernie recordings, although among the earliest, weren't reviewed in Billboard until November 26:
That one was also reviewed in the December 30 Down Beat, which had a less rosy view of it, giving it one star: "Everything that the [Burl] Ives record is, this one isn't. Eddy sings in his usual heavy, completely unimaginative way, combines with Hugo Winterhalter's lackluster choral direction to make a really bad disc."
In November, that batch was followed by Gene Autry (Columbia; recorded November 2) and Woody Herman & Nat "King" Cole (Capitol; November 7). Also released in November, but recorded at unknown dates, were: the Syncopators (National), Burl Ives (Columbia), Val Tino (Dana), Cowboy Copas & Grandpa Jones (King), the Ben Smith Quartet (Abbey), Mac McGuire and his Harmony Rangers (Rich-R-Tone), Joe Culpepper (Vocalion), the Maddox Brothers And Rose (4 Star), Madman Taylor ("Mule Train Boogie"; Gotham), and Mary McGoon (Bob & Ray Records). Notice that it's now being done by many less-famous artists.
We'll see a lot more as we go on. [NOTE: I usually provide some small biographical data on the singers I write about, but I won't do it for famous ones who are easy to look up.]
The October 28, 1949 San Bernardino County Sun said that it was already being played constantly:
Hollywood, Oct. 27 - "Mule Train", a catchy western tune about a mule skinner and his team, is the top tune hereabouts, although it was recorded only three days ago.
At least three top singers, Bing Crosby, Frankie Laine, and Vaughn Monroe, have recorded it. Al Jarvis of KLAC played it nine times the first morning it was on the air in recorded form.
Disk jockeys attribute its sudden popularity to its catchy folk tune and the realism and rhythm of the sound effects.
So, what was it about? Here are the Buz Butler lyrics:
Mule train. Hey-yeah [whip noises], hey-yeah.
Mule train. Clippetty-clopping over hill and plain.
Seems as how they never stop.
Clippetty-clop, clippetty-clop, clippetty, clippetty
Clippetty, clippetty, clippetty-clopping along.
Mule train. Hey-yeah, hey-yeah. [whip noises]
Mule train. Clippetty-clopping 'long the mountain chain.
Soon they're gonna reach the top.
Clippetty-clop, clippetty-clop, clippetty, clippetty
Clippetty, clippetty, clippetty-clopping along.
There's a plug of chaw tobacca for a miner in Corona
There's a guitar for a westerner way out in Arizona
There's a dress of calico for a gal in Kokomo
Get along mule, get along.
Mule train. Hey-yeah. [whip noises]
Mule train. Clippetty-clopping through the wind and rain
They'll be goin' till they drop.
Clippetty-clop, clippetty-clop, clippetty, clippetty
Clippetty, clippetty, clippetty-clopping along.
There's some needles and some thread for the local general store
There's a present from Sears-Roebuck that a bride is waiting for
There's some rheumatism pills for the settlers in the hills
Get along mule, get along.
Mule train. Hey-yeah, hey-yeah. [whip noises]
Mule train. Clippetty-clopping through the wind and rain
They'll keep goin' till they drop.
Clippetty-clop, clippetty-clop, clippetty, clippetty
Clippetty, clippetty, clippetty-clopping along.Mule train.
By October 29, Billboard listed Frankie Laine's version as a "Billboard Pick":
Frankie Laine continues to surprise with a remarkable performance on a piece of material which is outstanding for its intriguing rhythm, loads of spirit and sound effects. This one should hit fast and big.
Frankie Laine pretty much followed Buz Butler's lyrics, with exceptions (indicating that the songwriters had made some changes). Other versions would choose from both.
Butler: There's a dress of calico for a gal in Kokomo
Laine: A dress of calico for a pretty Navajo
Butler: There's some needles and some thread for the local general store
There's a present from Sears-Roebuck that a bride is waiting for
Laine: There's some cotton, thread, and needles for the folks a-way out yonder
A shovel for a miner who left his home to wander
Laine, not Butler:
There's a letter full of sadness and it's black around the border
A pair of boots for someone who had them made to order
A bible in the pack for the Reverend Mr. Black
Some more of the behind-the-scenes history was in the October 29, 1949 Billboard:
NEW YORK, Oct. 22 - Mercury Records' artists and repertoire chief, Mitch Miller, whipped up a rumpus this week over a new song entry, Mule Train. Not only did Miller himself swing the whip which made for the sound effects which will be heard on the coming Frankie Laine waxing of the song, but he also whipped Vaughn Monroe in the contest for the song.
Miller got his hands on the epic last week and rushed to Chicago where he waxed the tune with Laine last Sunday (16). The recording was rushed into the factory for immediate production and shipment and will be out next week. [Since these magazines were published weekly, it's always difficult to know what dates they're talking about. In this case, since the story is dated October 22, "next week" would still be prior to the end of October.]
Meanwhile Monroe, who is in Hollywood filming his initial horse opera, Singing Guns, planned to use Mule Train in the movie after proper synchronization rights had been arranged with Walt Disney Music, the pubbery which owns the song. This tune was to replace Riders In The Sky in the score. Monroe had lost the movie rights to Riders when publisher E. H. Morris peddled the rights elsewhere.
Just after recovering from the hassle which followed the loss of Riders, Monroe learned of the [Frankie Laine] Mercury recording of Mule Train and again blew his stack. He, Republic Pictures, and his manager, Williard Alexander, at first decided to pull Train out of the flick, claiming that the Disney pubbery had not lived up to its November 15 release date on the song. But Friday (21) Monroe and his associates made a deal with Fred Raphael, Disney pubbery head, whereby the release date would be lifted especially for Monroe, in order that the singing maestro could introduce the song on the air on his Saturday (22) evening Columbia Broadcasting System show and thus claim first association with the tune, which is similar to Riders, a smash hit waxing for Monroe. [Therefore, although the song was a few years old, Monroe's October 22 radio show would be the first time the public had ever heard it.]
So, to recap, here are the versions I know were released in October 1949:
Ellis "Buz" Butler - Decca 46194
Frankie Laine & Mule Skinners - Mercury 5345
Bing Crosby - Decca 24798
Vaughn Monroe & Moon Men - RCA 20-3600
Gordon MacRae - Capitol 57-777
Tennessee Ernie [Ford] - Capitol 57-40258
Arthur (Guitar Boogie) Smith & Crackerjacks - M-G-M 10577
Here's a bit about Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, an unfamiliar name among the stars:
This was a real C&W nasally-sung version. It's kind of bland, and doesn't seem to have any whip sound effects, but it has more music than most.
His version wasn't reviewed until the December 3, 1949 Billboard, which gave it a 79 (in their Country & Western record reviews): "Smith and his gang do a handsome job on the smash, but its appeal is confined to country locations."
Here's how some of the money would pour in, according to the October 31 Pittsfield, Massachusetts Berkshire Eagle:
Decibels Ahoy! One operator [someone who owns juke boxes] alone has more than 400 juke boxes in Pittsfield, and near-by. Hottest disk today is "Mule Train", which is funny. It has no love interest, unless you love mules. But the juke tycoons know. Each record has a numbered counter to distinguish between the drones and the hard workers. The life of a disk is about 300 playings, which, at five cents each, could, barring accidents, gross $15 [per juke box, or $6,000 for 400 boxes].
Here's a cynical look at the song from the November 1 Waukesha, Wisconsin Daily Freeman:
There's a battle unto death, or at least laryngitis, currently forming in the airwave arena of popular musical recordings. It involves three of the biggest voices in the field: Bing Crosby, Vaughn Monroe, and Frankie Laine.
Center of the joust is a new tune called "Mule Train", which is ballyhooed as "different" and a certain smash hit. Like a rash, it broke out in three places almost simultaneously. Between Friday and Sunday, all three groaners flooded the disc market with millions of platters each. Now disc jockeys and the "music" loving public are faced with a difficult choice.
Who will survive, the Groaner, Mr. Adenoids, or The Jumper? Tune in next week and you will hear, so often, in fact, that you'll wish you were still living in last week.
And this, from the November 2 St. Louis Post Dispatch:
A couple of Fridays ago, Mitch Miller, Mercury's musical director, telephoned from Hollywood to Chicago to let Frankie Laine hear a demonstration record of a song. [The only version recorded before Laine's was Buz Butler's, but where would Miller have gotten hold of that?] Next day, Miller flew to the Windy City, rehearsed the tune with Laine for six hours and, late that night, they recorded "Mule Train". Other waxworks are now busy jumping aboard. Bing Crosby recorded the song less than a week ago and Decca etchings of it moved into stores here yesterday.
"Mule Train" was written several years ago by Johnny Lange, a movie tunesmith and a couple of other guys [so much for fame!]. Music publishers thumbed noses at the ditty until Walt Disney's new music publishing firm picked it up. Now, "Mule Train" is headed for the gravy train and Laine and Crosby have the head start that is so all-important in recording popularity.
Decca placed a full-page ad in the November 5 Billboard touting Bing Crosby's version. Stuck at the bottom left was a small mention of "The Original Version" by Buz Butler. Obviously, they knew which version distributors and juke box operators were going to buy.
The same November 5 Billboard issue had a large two-part article titled "Scramble To Climb Aboard That Old Mule Train Turns Disk Biz Dizzy -- But Good!":
NEW YORK, Oct. 29 -Yah, Yah- Mule Tra-i-n!!! What last week started out to be the subject of an old-fashioned music business release date embroglio (The Billboard, October 29) turned into one of the most phenomenal single items in the modern history of the business. This is the week which will be marked down in the annals of the music industry as Mule Train week.
While artist and repertoire guys were yelling about the whipping administered them by Mercury's Mitch Miller when he released the Frankie Laine disking of Mule Train last week-end, they also were staying up nights recording and pushing into production their own Trains. The race was heading down the stretch at press time.
Mercury, which recorded the Laine side October 16, hit the jockeys and the retail stalls in the middle of the week. To supplement the promotion efforts of the Mercury flack and distributor operatives, Laine's managerial strategists, Gabbe, Lutz, and Heller, shipped out some 4,000 whips (a key "instrument" in the Train recording) to the nation's spinners.
Meanwhile Decca Records set in motion an all-out effort for a Bing Crosby recording. Der Bingle cut the opus Wednesday (26) morning. On Thursday (27) evening the Crosby version drew its initial radio performance on the Martin Block spinner show and by Friday (28) not only was performed on jockey shows thru-out the Eastern seaboard, on the West Coast, and in the Chicago area, but was already on sale in several retail shops in Chicago and other key cities. New York shops were to have delivery on the disking by this morning (29). The Decca diskery will keep its plants going on a 24-hour basis over the week-end on production of Train. The firm's execs, who are completely sold on Bing's rendition, expect to have produced and shipped "several hundred thousands" by the middle of the coming week.
And a similar situation was unfolding at Victor during the week. Vaughn Monroe, who was most directly affected by the Mercury jump, hopped on board the Mule Train in Victor Studios on the Coast Monday (24) ayem. His etching was flown. into New York, hit the jockey shows late Wednesday (26) evening, shipped to the factories for production and will be available in stores by Monday (31). Victor, too, intends flooding the market with wax totaling in the several hundreds of thousands.
Meanwhile Monroe, in an indirect fashion, stands as the guy, aside from the publishers, Walt Disney Music, who will benefit the most from Miller's jump. The song is part of the score of his forthcoming movie, Singing Guns, and the jockey and trade excitement stirred by the unusual tune has also steamed up immeasurable advance publicity for his flick.
Capitol also jumped into the race with a Gordon MacRae etching and likewise issued a country version by Tennessee Ernie.
Columbia Records has not yet waxed the novelty but will have a master on it by Monday (31). The firm's musical director, Hugo Winterhalter, will fly to Chicago Sunday (30) night to record Train with Nelson Eddy. The firm hopes to open the crewcut and longhair field for the piece with this disking, which also wil1 undergo the rush production and shipping treatment. Diskery reps felt that it would be hopeless to compete with the pop versions which were rushed this week.
MGM also evaded the pop market on the opus by slicing it as a country item with Arthur Smith.
Trade experts are guessing that the phenomenon, having started so furiously, will sell upwards of two million disks within a month. But the general feeling is that it will die just as quickly as it came on the scene. And a generally unknown oddity about the whole mess is that for a sterile animal, the Mule certainly bred a million records in a hurry.
HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 29 - Not since Nature Boy days has the Hollywood music industry enjoyed the excitement caused this week by the skyrocketing of various disk versions of Mule Train. Building steadily all week, exploitation, trade reaction and sales were still mounting at press time with diskery execs hailing Train as a hypo for the entire industry. While smaller waxworks continued to climb on the recording band wagon, platterers with versions already on acetate reported phenomenal sales, with predictions of "million and over" coming from several sources.
Furor started Monday (24) when KLAC disk jockey Al Jarvis unveiled the Mercury Frankie Laine disking. Laine's platter brought out rival record contact men in force and within two hours Jarvis had been supplied with pressings of the RCA Victor version by Vaughn Monroe (cut previous night in Hollywood) and two Capitol interpretations, one with Gordon MacRae and a second featuring hill-billy Tennessee Ernie. Meanwhile Julie Losch, Coast rep for Disney Songs, Inc., pubbers of the tune, was flooded with calls from diskeries and others asking for dubs and lead sheets. [Don't bother to check; dates don't tie in from one blurb to another.]
Sales reaction was immediate, with Capitol reporting local orders for 5,000 pressings as a result of the first day's airing. Mercury likewise said demand exceeded anything in recent history. Capitol provided even greater sales impetus by backing the MacRae version of Train with the growing pop fave, Dear Hearts and Gentle People.
Wednesday (26) Decca latched onto the tune with a fast recording by Bing Crosby, also backing Der Bingle's version with Dear Hearts. Session ended 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and first dubs were aired by Jarvis two hours later. Decca also owns the Buzz [sic] Butler hillbilly version of the Johnny Lange, Hy Heath and Freddy Glickman tune, having acquired the old master before the tune broke loose. [Untrue; it had been newly-recorded by Butler for Decca.] Advance orders on Crosby etchings were termed sensational by a Decca spokesman who claimed sale of 28,000 pressings to distributors in Western States. Columbia, which had as yet failed to record the tune, reportedly rushed a disking date in New York with Nelson Eddy doing still another interpretation. Other indie platteries were plotting to cut tune this week-end.
One Hollywood indie, Modern Records, will cash in on Train with the immediate release of Mule Skinner, written by Jimmy Rodgers several years ago and waxed by Buzz [sic] Butler. Modern topper Jules Bihari said he had nixed an offer of $5,000 for the Butler master, electing to gamble on releasing disk via Modern. Unusual sidelight in the sales picture was the unheralded co-operation between local disk jockeys and diskeries to forestall loss of sales thru over-promotion. In contrast to almost continuous play disks received when first launched, platter pilots went easy the latter part of the week. Several disk jockeys aired announcements saying Mule Train would "not be played today so that you won't tire of the song." Gesture was warmly received by plattery execs who recalled how other disks were killed by repetition and hailed the move as "good common sense."
Based on Coast reaction, the nation's platteries appeared ready to pull out all stops to put Train into top brackets, hoping that success of the novelty tune would start a consumer buying spree which would gain momentum and zoom Christmas biz above anticipated levels.
Also in the November 5 Billboard were reviews of Bing Crosby's and Vaughn Monroe's versions (both in the "Billboard Picks" column):
Here's an interesting analysis from the Des Moines Register of November 6:
Here's another look at the unfolding story, courtesy of the November 9 Bakersfield Californian:
HOLLYWOOD (INS) Practically every radio, television set, phonograph, and juke box hooked up in the nation today is blaring away with "Mule Train," the latest song sensation.
If you are developing strange spots in front of your optics and getting buzzing noises inside your noggin from a steady diet of "Mule Train," you might like to know why. And how.
Songs usually become national favorites after months of hard, tough toiling, steady "plugging" and a considerable outlay of dough.
But recent statistics show that one of every 561,073 published songs placed on the market whams into No. 1 spot on the hit parades within a matter of days. Like "Mule Train".
"Mule Train" is termed by the trade as a "startling success". But it isn't a new ditty. It first was recorded nearly four years ago by an obscure singer named Buz Butler for an equally obscure recording outfit.
The song remained in obscurity until band leader Vaughn Monroe recorded it for a Republic flicker, "Singing Guns", in which he makes his movie debut.
Then Monroe warbled the tune about the donkey choo-choo over his cigarette-sponsored radio program - and it became the successor to such former musical manias of yesteryear as "The Music Goes Round and Round", "Three Little Fishies", "Mairzy-Doats", and "The Hut-Sut Song".
Here is how "Mule Train" was born:
A guy named Johnny Lange, who had written "Mule Train" with two other fellers, was absent-mindedly playing the tune one day, meditating on the vagaries of earning a living in the song-writing dodge.
Suddenly he remembered that his old buddy, former orchestra leader Abe Lyman, now was a big wheel in the movies.
Lange latched onto the record and took off, double-time, in search of Lyman. He played it for him. Lyman thought "Mule Train" was "wonderful", one step below "terrific" in Hollywood parlance. Lyman played it for his co-producer, Harry Arthur, who thought it was "terrific".
The producers wired Monroe, on location in Arizona, that they had a "colossal" new song to be included in "Singing Guns". They ordered a special sequence written and sent a team of mules to Arizona.
Then it was discovered that there was no existing sheet music for "Mule Train". Jerry Roberts, music boss at Republic, played the record until he got dizzy and wrote the score. His staff made up their own words where the lyrics were fuzzy. [This may account for the alternate lyrics.]
And overnight "Mule Train" became a smash hit.
Already it has been recorded by Bing Crosby, Frankie Laine, Gordon MacRae, Tennessee Ernie, [Buz] Butler, Burl Ives, and others.
Owners of the song are going goofy with worry. They're appealing to A.S.C.A.P. to stop the flow of recordings.
They're beseeching the nation's disk jockeys to play the tune only one time a program. Otherwise, they say, "Mule Train" will be a dead duckling in a matter of two weeks, worn out before it really lives.
If you've been keeping track, each of these stories is a little bit different.
Of course, press agents couldn't keep their hands off it. This is from the November 10 Des Moines Tribune:
With its Frankie Laine treatment of "Mule Train", Mercury Record Corp. sent out souvenirs; every radio station got a mule whip, junior size, with its copy of the recording. (But the Frankie Laine version doesn't need the persuasive gesture.)
This was actually only one of the many gimmicks thought up by public relations flacks. For example, Mercury boosted the Community Chest by using a real mule train along Hollywood Boulevard (advertising Frankie Laine, of course). Decca did the same for Crosby in Fresno, California. Mercury also got the teamsters' union to endorse Laine's version as the union's official song. Here's some of the stunts pulled for the Tennessee Ernie Ford version: DJs received a plug of Brown's Mule tobacco, with a note thanking them for their plug of the song. Record dealers got a small whip for their counters; when it was touched, it played a few seconds of Ford's version and a short announcement advertising it. Operators (juke box owners) were mailed stickers, advertising Ford, to put on the jukes.
Sometimes, things didn't go as planned, as evidenced by this blurb in the November 19, 1949 Cash Box:
CINCINNATI, O. - Sam Klayman, Mercury records distrib here, wanted to put on a show for the folks to pep the buying of Frankie Laine's "Mule Train" disks.
Sam went out to the country, hired himself a couple of ornery mules, and arranged for a mule train wagon to go galloping thru the streets of this man's town.
But, Sam forgot that country bred mules just ain't like their city brothers.
The result was, as the mule train got started, some impatient autoist honked his horn - and wham - off went the mules clippity, clippity, clop thru Cinci's streets - scared to smithereens, with Sam's mouth wide open, but not like that of a muleteer.
This had also been talked about in the November 13 Des Moines Register:
Mercury Records, which had planned a series of real mule team parades in various cities as promotion for Frankie Laine's recording of "Mule Train", suffered a kickback in Cincinnati, Ohio.
After much searching, the publicity men hired a mule team from a Kentucky farmer. But when the wagon was about to start its junket, a blast from an auto horn scared the daylights out of Jack and Jenny and there was a pell-mell chase through downtown Cincy. The runaway temporarily shelved such deals in other cities.
The November 10, 1949 Minneapolis Star said that some of the profits were coming its way ("Some Of Mule Train's Gold Headed For City"):
That Mule Train everybody's hearing about appears to have Minneapolis as one of its destinations.
The popular music industry today was watching a gold rush as record companies plunged into production of various editions of the western song, Mule Train.
The rush was originated by Mercury, which is partly owned here. Henry Sabes, 1025 Russell Avenue N., is a stockholder and was one of the organizers of the young company.
It was first in the field with its record of Mule Train by Frankie Laine, a Mercury singer who appeared here recently at Club Carnival. Shortly before, Mercury had beaten its larger brethren to the punch with Lucky Old Sun, again with Laine singing.
Laine made the Mule Train record in Chicago on the week-end following his appearance here and Sabes made the trip with him. The whipcracks in the tune, said Sabes, were added later in New York, N.Y., as an afterthought.
Today, Mercury has four plants turning out the Mule Train records, of which it expects to make two million copies.
The urgency of record sales has other companies jumping.
Decca had the number recorded by Bing Crosby on a Wednesday and was selling copies on the following Friday. Capitol rushed it into wax with Gordon MacRae. Columbia rushed versions by both Burl Ives and Nelson Eddy. Victor got it out with Vaughn Monroe.
The article ended with this, which I bet you never thought about:
As for Laine, appearing in San Francisco, Calif., he has had to explain to audiences that he can't work the whipcracks into a live performance. So he plays his record while he takes a rest.
Everyone's A Critic Department (courtesy of the November 11 Lebanon, Pennsylvania Daily News):
Strictly opinionated: The guy who wrote the song, "Mule Train", should be turned in to the humane society and turned out by human society.
In November, we finally get to the release of two Rhythm & Blues versions of the song (well kinda).
On November 12, ads appeared for the Syncopators' "1st Quartet Version" (on National) and for the Ben Smith Quartet (on Abbey). This is the one that will give us trouble. (Stay tuned.) The Syncopators were reviewed in the November 19 Billboard:
See my Syncopators article for the full story, but here's what you need to know now:
The group consisted of James Pinkney (lead tenor), George Summers (second tenor), Howard "Ghostie" Smith (baritone), his brother, Theodore Smith (bass, baritone and second lead), and Edmond Johnson (bass, baritone, and guitar).
According to Walter Sutler [their manager, a DJ on Washington DC's WINX], this was the story of "Mule Train": The song was owned by Mercury Records, whose president, Irving Green, just happened to be the son of National's Al Green. It was decided to let National have the rights for about a month to see if one of their artists could do anything with it. The song was given to the Syncopators, and their version is actually the original recording.
It's a wonderful story; it isn't true. Even the accompanying ad says "1st Quartet Version," not "Original Version." (The label itself says "The Syncopators' version of Mule Train," not something it would have said if it were the original version.)
In a stroke of brilliance, Sutler sent a copy of the disk to President Harry S Truman. The telegram that was sent with the record was a fun piece of silliness. As reported in the Baltimore Afro-American of November 12, 1949, "they" said that they were "inspired" to send the president the first group recording of the song "after they realized that the donkey is the mascot of the Democratic Party." It sailed on: "We, the Syncopators, hope that while this record about the 'Mule Train' is being played nationally, people will think of the donkey, mascot of the Democratic Administration, then team up and co-operate to make the years remaining under your guidance peaceful and prosperous." At least the paper was realistic about it: "The stunt proved to be a popular one from a publicity standpoint because the INS and UP news services picked it up at the White House and sent it out on their wire services giving the local group a tremendous publicity break." However, at the time of the article, Truman hadn't even seen the record because the Secret Service was still busy screening it. (After all, too much exposure to R&B could be lethal.) The record, it said, was being pushed by Jerry Strong at WINX and John Massey on WWDC. The White House eventually acknowledged the record in a letter.
I've always liked it, although it could never stand up to the Laine or Crosby versions (the whip sounds are pretty phony). However, it's a lot better than some of the other versions.
A November 12 Billboard article told how press agents and promotion men ("flacks") were dealing with "Mule Train":
HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 5 - With disk sales mounting, Mule Train continued to build up mileage this week, and coincidentally turned into a field day for flacks and promotional men. Gimmicks dreamed up by enterprising press agents won both trade and consumer reaction, as evidenced by sales of both disks and sheet music.
Locally, Train started a disk jockey feud which centered around veteran platter pilot Al Jarvis. Several rival jockeys, burned because Jarvis was first to air the Frankie Laine, Crosby and Monroe versions of the tune and benefited most publicity-wise, attacked the disk pilot on their shows, one going so far as to say he would play only the Buzz [sic] Butler-Decca version of the tune. Jarvis struck back on the air with a pitch directed at home listeners in which he condemned colleagues who boycotted any version of the tune for personal reasons. Feud gave listeners and trade something to talk about, but simmered down by week's end.
On the flack field, press agent Red Doff, who handles Laine, snagged a tie-up with the Community Chest whereby the Chest campaign was plugged via a genuine mule train plodding along Hollywood Boulevard. Similar stunt was pulled by Decca Records in Fresno, Calif., where Decca salesman Johnny Beard used a mule train to plug both the Community Chest and Crosby's etching of the tune. Doff also tied in with the teamsters' union, AFL, getting the Western conference delegates assembled at San Jose, Calif., to name Laine's version of Train as the union's official song. Dave Beck, teamsters' union veepee, heralded Train by declaring that "Mule Train is symbolic of the teamsters' union since the old days and we hereby adopt Frankie Laine's version as [our] own."
There were unconfirmed reports that Walt Disney would rush work on a cartoon featurette built around Train, with Laine set to do vocal dubbing, but studio spokesmen said no decision had been reached. Meanwhile Disney Music Coast rep, Julie Losch, went to work on commercial air plugs, with Crosby's stanza among first radio shots set. Crosby reportedly dubbed in the Decca record version into airshow rather than re-recording ditty, a gimmick made possible by the fact that both the radio show and Decca masters are Ampex tape recorded.
Here's another new entry. The November 12 Cash Box reviewed the version by Val Tino on Dana.
More "Mule Train", and the bow of a new voice in wax in this presentation by Val Tino and The Wayfarers. This rendition, offered with harmonica background shows as a pleasing piece that should hold its own on the boxes. Vocal work by the balladeer is effective throughout. The flip ["Up In The Balcony"] is a cute bit of music that might catch on. Lyrics are cute, and make for easy listening. The platter rates music operators listening attention.
So what can I tell you about Val Tino?
The April 6, 1951 Down Beat mentioned him when he started being managed by Mort Ruby (who'd been Nat "King" Cole's road manager). It said: "Mort also swears that he did not pin that tag, Val Tino, on the kid to cash in on the recently-released movie, Valentino. Says he's been using it for two years." At least that confirms that it was a stage name (and probably rules out his real name being "Valentino").
On January 19, 1948, he was the winner on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, having sung "Golden Earrings". The January 19 Houston Chronicle called him a "20-year-old ex-G.I., who has done radio and supper club work". Later that month, he, as the winner, appeared in Miami. In December 1948, he appeared at the Riptide in Atlantic City.
He came from Brooklyn (1754 74th Street, according to one blurb), but nothing ever gave his actual name. He was also mentioned as a classmate of Vic Damone and 22 years old in January 1949. A January 7, 1949 Philadelphia Inquirer blurb called him "a New York radio singer". In June 1949, when he appeared at Jerry Marsh's Show Lounge (Utica, New York), he was billed as "The Beau Brummel Of The Piano" and "Popular WOR and Mutual [Network] Singing Star".
October 1949 found him at the Waldorf-Astoria. In February 1950, he appeared at Fay's Musical Bar in Troy, New York. On January 31, 1951, he was on Al Burton's TV show over KLAC-TV in Los Angeles. In mid-April through early May 1951, he was at the Captain's Table in Los Angeles, along with Hadda Brooks. He was still appearing in Los Angeles in 1959. [In 1961, a singer from Wilmington, Delaware, named Italo Richard Immediato, also known as "Richie Ito", began calling himself "Val Tino". He recorded for Stellar and is not our Val.]
I've never heard this one.
The November 12 Billboard reported that the Frankie Laine disc had debuted on the "Best-Selling Pop Singles" chart at #9.
A strange piece in some November 12 publications. The Afro-American reported: "Watch for The Ravens new, exciting arrangements of 'Mule Train' and 'No More Kisses For Baby', out around Jan. 1." And, in the Norfolk, Virginia New Journal And Guide:
Prepping for their current extensive road tour, the Ravens were paying especial attention to exciting arrangements of "Mule Train" and "No More Kisses For Baby". Both will be heard by their in-person audiences around the country. The latter tune will be waxed for release around the first of the year. The Ravens phenomenal success in their field proves indeed that "practice does make perfect".
So, obviously, it's a toss-up as to whether they'll record "Mule Train" or not (they never did). They did wax "No More Kisses For Baby", but after the build-up, it was never released.
The November 14 Salisbury, Maryland Daily Times was confused by the whole thing:
"Mule Train" pictures the emotions of a mule team driver as he urges the mules to give a better performance on any track and in any company. All he does is to crack his whip, yell at the mules, and repeat "clippety clop, clippety clop" over and over again. You would think he had limited appeal, even to the mules. But the public is taking to the song as if mules were right up its alley and it had been going out for Sunday afternoon rides behind them all its life.
Whip sounds were a problem. This was from the November 15 Miami News:
First Miami vocalist to sing "Mule Train", new novelty tune now beginning an airways ear-bombardment, is Alfredo Seville, robust Park Ave. Lounge baritone. To simulate bull-whip sound, Seville employs a deck of playing cards and a rubber band. But effect is less than whip's stinging crack on, for example, Frankie Laine's recording of tune. [Note: Seville sang it live; he didn't record it.]
The November 17 Decatur, Illinois Daily Review had this ominous note: "Owners of the song and the movie are afraid the song will be killed in a month or so. They probably are right." This was echoed in the Elmira, New York Star-Gazette from the same date: "Tin Pan Alley experts figure that the song 'Mule Train', which clicked so rapidly, is due for oblivion with the same speed."
Here are some reviews from columnist Will Jones, writing in the November 17 Minneapolis Morning Tribune:
A small cartoon in the Star the other evening showed a lardy and rather ridiculous-looking creature, presumably me, being shot out of a cannon.
The line which the Star and Tribune's alert promotion department placed under the cartoon said:
"That guy Will Jones will do anything to get a story for his Minneapolis Morning Tribune column!"
So as not to let the promotion department down, I have gone out and done something which I think justifies the cartoon. I'd say it was at least as daring as being shot from a cannon. It will leave more permanent scars, I'm sure.
Boldly and deliberately I sat down and listened to six different versions of Mule Train, one right after another, without any rest periods in between.
There are at least eight recordings of the song. The six I heard in the WTCN record library were enough to give me mental saddle sores.
I could take the cracking of whips or the screeching of "mule tra-a-i-i-e-e-e-n!" all right. But it bothers me to hear grown men going "Clippity clop, clippity clop, clippity, clippity, clippity, clippity, clippity clop . . ."
Bing Crosby, happily, doesn't take the song seriously. After hearing several of the other versions, I appreciated his even more. He has fun with it.
Vaughn Monroe makes Mule Train sound like a funeral procession. He does it sad and heavy.
Frankie Laine ants-in-his-pants it. He sings the song twice as fast as any of the others. While listening to him, I had visions of a jittery neurotic, chain-smoking type who has no business driving mules.
Someone named Buzz [sic] Butler whines the song. He has the distinction of putting the most monotony into the clippity-clops.
Meanest sounding whip in the lot goes with Tennessee Ernie. Ernie whispers part of the time and moans part of the time. The whip sears into the mule hide mercilessly. Ernie also has an electric guitar boinging around in an echo chamber background. Laine's record has some echo touches, too.
The most elaborate echoes came with Gordon MacRae, though. When he sings "G-e-e-e-e-t a-law- w-w-w-nnnnng!" you can almost see the hills through which the words go a-rattlin' and a-reverberatin'.
I have yet to hear Mule Train played without the words. A young lady who works at WTCN said she heard it that way at a dance last week-end. There were no whips either. Just a guitar and relentless bull fiddle. It was, she said, a fine tune to dance to.
Not wanting Will Jones to have all the "fun", I listened to the same six versions in a row. I absolutely agree with his assessments. Because Crosby recorded for Decca, his lyrics follow Buz Butler's. Vaughn Monroe's "whip" sometimes sounds like glass breaking. He starts by using Butler's lyrics, but then throws in some changes. As usual, I find his voice too heavy to be pleasant. Tennessee Ernie has some interesting accompaniment and sings from tenor to bass just to mix it up a bit. I guess Gordon MacRae was warming up for "Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'". I'm going to go and rest now.
Another ominous note, this one from the November 18 Moline, Illinois Dispatch:
Now that Mule Train has driven Riders from the Sky [a reference to the song "Riders In The Sky"], radio and juke box listeners (including those who enjoy it and those exposed to it) wonder how long it will take the disc jockeys and the entertainers to kill the mule. Perhaps the traditionally stubborn animal will balk at the brazen manner in which he is being foisted upon the airwaves.
There is considerable danger in this current popular musical headliner. Should any of its strains and whip cracking manage to filter through the Soviet jamming, Russians might well come of the opinion that they actually had invented the automobile and the tractor while the poor misguided capitalists in the United States were still in the mule stage.
Our chief criticism of Mule Train is not in the number itself, which is a welcome relief to some of the trash tin panned over the radio, but in the number of so-called artists who have recorded the selection and the frequency with which it is tossed at the customers.
When Vaughn Monroe sang the song (week after week after week) on his radio show, he didn't use a bull whip. According to the November 18 Camden, New Jersey Courier-Post:
Vaughn Monroe's singing of "Mule Train" on his Saturday night programs has resulted in one of the easiest jobs on the show. A sound man stands at a separate microphone during the rendition and gets three signals from Monroe. Each time the star signals, the sound man waves a wooden clapper to make it sound like a whip. He looks real important while doing it, too!
And, we learn from the Waukesha, Wisconsin Daily Freeman, that the song engendered a crime wave:
MILWAUKEE - Leonard Eilers, 23, Milwaukee, promises he won't play the "Mule Train" song on juke boxes and will stay out of bars
On those conditions, he was given one-year probation for taking $80 from his sleeping roommate and going on a "Mule Train" spree.
Police told District Judge Harvey Neelen that Eilers skipped to Beaver Dam, Wis., and played the "Mule Train" song on juke boxes at least 481 times.
Two tavern keepers threw him out. A third called police after he had dropped $15 worth of quarters in the juke box for his favorite.
"Repeat after me," the judge said. "I swear I will stay out of taverns during probation and will not play 'Mule Train' on the juke box."
Eilers promised.
The November 19, 1949 Billboard had large ads for Vaughn Monroe, the Ben Smith Quartet, Cowboy Copas & Grandpa Jones, and Val Tino.
It took Billboard until December 17 to review the Copas/Jones release:
That same edition told us that a new entry in the field was Gene Autry, who bought the song for a Columbia picture of that name. His version, recorded on November 2, was released on Columbia Records, but wasn't reviewed in Billboard until December 17:
Per the November 19, 1949 Billboard, the released versions were old friends Buz Butler, Bing Crosby, Frankie Laine, Tennessee Ernie, Vaughn Monroe, Gordon MacRae, as well as versions by Nelson Eddy (Columbia; recorded October 31), Cowboy Copas and Grandpa Jones (King), Burl Ives (Columbia), Mac McGuire & His Harmony Rangers (Rich-R-Tone), the Syncopators (National), and the Ben Smith Quartet (Abbey).
Mac McGuire is a name I wasn't familiar with.
Drawn to radio, he worked at WMBD (Peoria), WHEB (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), WSNJ (Bridgeton, New Jersey), WLAV (Grand Rapids, Michigan), WCAU (Philadelphia), and later WIP (also in Philly), where he was the morning drive time jockey. From 1948 to 1950, he also hosted a television show on WPTZ (Plattsburgh, New York).
Mac McGuire and the Harmony Rangers were a Country & Western group that also performed on WIP Radio. When he toured with the Harmony Rangers, their opening act would occasionally be Bill Haley and the Saddlemen (the pre -Comets).
Mac McGuire died on February 2, 1963 from a stroke suffered the night before at his Pitman, NJ home. He was only 43.
It took Billboard until December 24 to review McGuire's version:
Mack [sic] McGuire (65): Too late for much action outside the label's home neighborhood. Nothing different here. [I agree with that; it's an undistinguished version. Rich-R-Tone Records was from Johnson City, Tennessee.]
Burl Ives was another singer who had to wait. Released in mid-November, it wasn't reviewed until the December 17 Billboard:
The December 30 Down Beat gave it 4 stars: "The first of that Train since FL's version to have any distinction of its own. Backed by Pete Seeger on banjo, Tony Mottola on guitar, and Bob Haggart's bass, Ives treats the song as a ballad, gives it lightness and charm as well as story continuity."
[To me, it's actually a very annoying version; I guess that's why they never invited me to review records.]
The November 19 Billboard reviewed the Vaughn Monroe and Gordon MacRae, versions:
Vaughn Monroe (87): Vaughn's version of this stellar hit, which is in his "Singing Guns" movie, is inferior to competition, but Victor's production and distrib power should sell plenty of copies. [Remember, trade paper ratings are hugely based on the potential selling power of a record, rather than its artistic value. Thus, the "87" for an "inferior" version.]
In 1948, superstar Al Jolson had been voted the "Most Popular Male Vocalist" by a poll in Variety. The next year, on November 19, 1949, Jolson was named "Personality of the Year" by the Variety Clubs of America. When Jolson appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show, sometime in early 1950, he attributed his receiving the award to his being the only singer of any importance not to make a record of "Mule Train".
I'm not sure exactly when it was released, but on November 7, bandleader Woody Herman and Nat "King" Cole had collaborated on a version for Capitol. It's a silly version in which the mules lay down and refuse to move, so the singers catch a freight train. Some of the dialog seems to be jivey, but I can't understand a lot of it. From the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Patriot-News of November 20, came this review:
Woody Herman and Nat "King" Cole have combined their talents on Capitol to make a laughable novelty out of it.
By this time, Columbia Studios was really worried that the ubiquity of "Mule Train" would affect the release of Vaughn Monroe's "Singing Guns" film, in which he'd sing it. As a "stale song", it could affect box office receipts (and what could be more important than that?).
Ollie M. Jones in his "Innocent Bystander" column, in the November 20 Cincinnati Enquirer, opined what would happen it you sang the song to a mule team.
.... if Bing Crosby or anybody else thinks that you could move a 20-mule team by hollering: "Whoa, you lop-eared loafer!" and "Git along thar, you bob-tailed rascal!", they should have themselves another think. To mules, that would be mere pleasantries. In fact, sweet talk. And, instead of pulling harder, the 20 mules would probably sit down and draw straws to decide which one came back and kissed you.
Of course, the song was not only played endlessly on the radio, it was sung endlessly on the radio. For example, this was in the November 24, 1949 Madison, Wisconsin Wisconsin State Journal:
Whoa, Mule!: Red Skelton and his Four Knights quartet did Red's own version of "Mule Train" on the "Red Skelton Show" a couple of weeks ago. This week, Skelton received this telegram:
"We, the undersigned members of the 'Mule Train Vocalist Association' do hereby request that you immediately cease and desist singing and/or rendering the song 'Mule Train' in any shape or form whatsoever. This action is demanded by reason of the fact that you as a comedian have no prior experience in whip-cracking and by all rights should confine your activities to joke-cracking.
"(Signed) Frankie Laine, Bing Crosby, Vaughn Monroe, Buzz [sic] Butler, Gordon McCrea [sic], Tennessee Ernie, and Nelson Eddy."
"And they sent the wire collect," Skelton adds bitterly.
Crooner Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters had a radio show called CLUB 15 on the CBS network. They did a version that exists on a Duodisc transcription disc from that show, at an unknown date, presumably in 1949.
On November 27, on the new Perry Como Chesterfield Supper Club TV show (only on since the beginning of September), Perry did a version, singing to a mule that didn't want to go anywhere (at least the two guys inside the silly mule suit didn't). Perry is pleading with it, in an Italian accent, to no avail. Finally, they both lie down and go to sleep. This is probably the first televised presentation of the song. The show is on YouTube (look for the one with Patti Page and Victor Borge); the skit is at around 20 minutes into the show.
By November 26, another player had been added to the list: Joe Culpepper on Vocalion. It had been recorded on November 3 and was mentioned in Billboard many times (consistently misspelled "Culpeper"), but that's all I can tell you about it. I haven't heard this one, nor even seen the label. It's a common name and there's nothing I can tell you about the singer.
And now we come to the biggest enigma of all. The version by the Ben Smith Quartet on Peter Doraine's Abbey Records. There were ads for it on November 12 and December 3, it consistently turns up on trade paper lists of artists who've recorded the song, and Cash Box reviewed it on November 26:
[Note: As well as singing, Ben Smith played sax, clarinet, and drums. "Don't Worry", led by guitarist Artie Long, isn't the same song as the Quartet's "Don't Worry Me No More", which was led by Nellie Hill.]
So, what's the problem? It got a great review and some ads. But, ask yourself, "when was the last time I saw a copy or even heard it?" Didn't think so. So what happened to it? We know that there were many cases where a record was scheduled for release, even given a record number, but then held back. This seems to be a case, which I've never encountered before, where review copies were pressed up, but then the company decided not to issue it, regardless of the review. I even went as far as to contact Peter Doraine's son, Charles, who, not surprisingly, had no idea what the story behind the missing record was.
In his November 28, 1949 syndicated column, Walter Winchell reported that "Mule Train" had sold over 1 1/2 million records (in all its forms) and 250,00 copies of sheet music.
The November 28 Minneapolis Star-Tribune told us all we need to know about the whip-cracking effects on Vaughn Monroe's disc. It was in an article titled "Department Of Fairly Useless Information":
From an RCA Victor press release:
Vaughn Monroe's waxing of Mule Train owes much of its authentic aura to the expert whip cracking of David Kashner. Kashner makes his recording debut on this song.
RCA Victor cornered champion whip-cracker Kashner to simulate the old-time muleskinners riding the pioneer trails.
When Kashner came to RCA Victor's Hollywood studios he brought along two bull whips, the same kind drivers the country over used to prod their mules along the trails. Kashner made his own whips out of the finest kangaroo leather obtainable.
Kashner's whip work made the recording session a very unusual one. Engineers marked off a space about 20 feet in length, giving the whipman and his two bull "snakes" plenty of leeway in which to twirl the whips.
Kashner really had to be a quick-change artist, holding his whip in his left hand to make a swish sound with an upward motion, then shifting to the other hand to bring the giant weapon down with a large, sharp crack.
Kashner makes a business of whip cracking. He has performed for radio, movies and television, but never before on records. He has never hurt anyone with his weapons. His hobby, however, is hunting rattlesnakes with his deadly whip.
So, to recap, here are the versions I know were released in November 1949:
Syncopators - National 9093
Gene Autry - Columbia 20651
Burl Ives - Columbia 38644
Nelson Eddy - Columbia 38645
Val Tino & Wayfarers - Dana 2059
Cowboy Copas & Grandpa Jones - King 835
Ben Smith Quartet - Abbey 3009
Mac McGuire and his Harmony Rangers - Rich-R-Tone 456
Joe Culpepper - Vocalion 55074
Woody Herman and Nat "King" Cole - Capitol 57-787
Maddox Brothers And Rose [Maddox] (vocal by Rose) - 4 Star 1399
(we'll get to this one in a bit)
A tragedy! The December 1 Camden, New Jersey Courier-Post reported that:
"Mule Train" has been replaced in the local record stores by "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer".
A new entry: starting on December 3, the version by the Maddox Brothers And Rose was mentioned.
The tune was reviewed in the December 17 Billboard, only receiving a 58: "Probably the only disking featuring a fem lead. Side is overloaded with production."
Not everyone who sang it recorded it. A December 3 Billboard review of the stage show at Manhattan's Strand Theater said: "[Desi] Arnaz came on again for a Cuban version of Mule Train, almost killing himself swinging the whip..."
The Windsor, Ontario Star of December 3 wasn't wholly positive:
The whiplash and the clippity clop seems to have faded away as fast as it descended upon the helpless populace. "Mule Train" has slipped way down and it is hoped it will soon be out of hearing completely.
The song gave Al Jolson a chance to claim another distinction - one of the only singers who didn't record "Mule Train", and Al is proud of the fact.
While mentioning our pet aversion, "Mule Train", at the start of the parade, Nelson Eddy's effort for Columbia might have been mentioned.
It's too bad someone couldn't have taken Nelson aside and talked him out of taking the step, 'cause no matter who sings it, Frankie Laine, Crosby, Vaughn Monroe, or Harry Truman, it's still "Mule Train".
A Cash Box listing from December 10 showed 16 of the 18 versions of "Mule Train" that we've already seen. They left off Mac McGuire and the Maddox Brothers And Rose. (And, of course, the Dick Haymes version, only on a transcription, doesn't count.)
The December 14 Pittsburgh Press reported that Gene Autry had bought the film rights to "Mule Train" for $20,000.
On December 17, the Lassie radio show presented a "Mule Train" musical radio episode, enacted by Ken "Shorty" Carson (the stage name of Hubert Paul Flatt, since you asked). He'd been in 22 Roy Rogers movies as a member of the Sons Of The Pioneers.
A singer named Dick Byron, along with music director Mitch Miller, recorded a version of "Mule Train" to be released on the Little Golden kiddie records series. It would have sold for 25 cents, but they couldn't obtain a special royalty rate from the publisher and the record never came out.
The versions available, listed on the December 17 Billboard "Honor Roll Of Hits", showed no surprises, although they left off the Ben Smith Quartet.
But, by this time, there were some new versions: Madman Taylor, Frank Lawver, and Rex Turner.
Frank L. Lawver, 31, told police today he's out of the serenading business. He's also out one accordion.
Here's his story:
He met a blue-eyed brunette last night, a looker. He mentioned that he plays the accordion, happened to have his $550 instrument in his car. Get it, she said, and let's go for a ride in the country, where we can hear the music away from all these [July 4] fireworks.
They got in her car and a few blocks later, she pulled in front of a restaurant. We'd better take along some sandwiches, she suggested. We might get hungry.
Lawver went into get them. When he returned, blue-eyed brunette, car, and accordion had vanished. He filed a grand theft report.
The moral, boys and girls: never play the accordion. Strangely, he didn't give up. By the end of 1950, he ran an accordion studio in Torrance. ["Why don't YOU or your CHILD get started right away?" (can I bring a brunette?)]
In late December, there was a version by Mary McGoon.
Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding were comics who, for many years, parodied current events. "Mary McGoon", voiced by Ray Goulding, was "the elderly host of a recipe segment" on the show. "She" did the song live on one of the shows and the requests for "her" to do it again (and again) came pouring in. Finally, they decided to record it, with Bob Elliott joining her (as character "Tex Blaisdell").
McGoon really sounds like an old woman who can't sing very well.
They cut the song for [wait for it...] Bob & Ray Records. There wasn't any regular distribution channel, so Bob & Ray themselves filled mail-order requests from a garage.
The December 20 Brooklyn Daily Eagle had this sad note:
The song "Mule Train" has been petering out lately, but I hope you didn't have any idea that you'd heard the last of it. It's due to be revived all over again next month, when Gene Autry's latest movie is released. Gene paid $20,000 for rights to the song and its title ("Mule Train" will be the name of the movie too), and efforts will be made to prolong the tune's popularity so that Gene's investment won't be a waste of dough. Vaughn Monroe, of course, has already used the song in his Western flicker, "Singing Guns" [which hadn't yet been released, either].
Are you sick of the song yet? Turns out that Decca is. The December 24, 1949 Billboard article was titled "Decca Gives Up On 'Mule Train'":
Mule Train has had its last ride on the Decca label. Since the Decca execs felt that the Train, as etched by Bing Crosby, had just about worn out its welcome and since Dear Hearts And Gentle People, the flip side of the waxing, is creating sales for the pairing, the diskery has decided to pull Train off the platter and replace it with a new pairing.
The new flip for Dear Hearts will be Make Believe, a Crosby disking with Carmen Cavallaro accompaniment, which Dave Kapp, Decca vee-pee in charge of artists and repertoire, feels didn't have a fair chance when it was issued four of five months ago.
The New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) of December 29 said that there'd been a show for Veterans in Butler, Pennsylvania. The entertainment was provided by Bob Pandice, a WKST (New Castle) personality. He was requested to sing "Mule Train". I guess it gave him ideas; he'd soon record it himself.
So, to recap, here are the versions I know were released in December 1949:
Madman Taylor ("Mule Train Boogie") - Gotham G-213
Frank Lawver & Prairie Serenaders - Tops 234
Rex Turner - Varsity 230
Mary McGoon (Ray Goulding) - Bob & Ray 100
Finally, we leave 1949 behind as the mules pull us into 1950.
Has "Mule Train" affected the populace? This article from three January 3, 1950 New York State papers: Binghamton Sun-Bulletin, Elmira Star-Gazette, and Buffalo News might help to answer the question:
Washington (UP) - Albert S. Shocair, 31, was hauled into court on charges that he set his rooming house on fire.
He told the judge he can't remember setting any fires, but added:
"Six hours a day, the other roomers played 'Mule Train' on the phonograph. That's enough to drive anyone mad."
Did UP invent the story? It didn't say if they meant Washington, D.C. or Washington State, which is pretty sloppy reporting. Why was it only in those three papers? More interesting is that there was never anyone in the United States named "Albert Shocair".
Another county heard from: the January 5 Binghamton, New York Press And Sun-Bulletin:
The phonograph people seem now to have thought of all possible attachments except something that quietly splinters the "Mule Train" recording after an eighth playing.
The January 8 Philadelphia Inquirer questioned how much Lange, Heath, and Glickman actually knew about mules. "It is a laudable sentiment, but it's a 'bum rap' at mules. For the average mule won't keep doing anything until he drops. He has more sense."
Finally, a chance to hear "Mule Train" in Spanish. Lalo Guerro (with the Imperial Mariachi band) released "Tiro de Mulas" ("mule team") on Imperial in either late December 1949 or early January 1950. While I can't understand it, it seems to be a straight-forward effort, but using lyrics that would appeal to his mostly Mexican-American audience.
Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero was born on November 8, 1908 in Morenci, Arizona, moved to Los Angeles by 1940, and died on January 13, 1991 in Riverside, California. He recorded serious Spanish songs, Spanish versions of popular songs, and spoofs of popular songs. In my Misspent Youth, I loved his "Pancho Lopez", a take-off on "Davy Crockett".
The song was reviewed in the January 14 Billboard, receiving a 74: "The Spanish version of 'Mule Train' is given a sound bit of shouting, whistling and whip-snapping. Should go especially in Mexican neighborhoods."
Here, with the help of my neighbor, Diana Duque, is what we think he's saying:
How they run, day and night without stopping, without ceasing! My mules are carrying the load from the town to the ranches.
I'm carrying cases of tequila for my friend Pancho; trousers and a corset for Don José's daughter.
Pull on mules; run without stopping. Chiquitita [the name of one of the mules], rain or shine, go on until we get there.
I'm carrying an old guitar that I'm taking to the foreman, three pairs of sandals for Pascual's children, a plow and a scythe for Don Simón's yoke [of oxen].
I'm getting there now; they keep galloping.
I'm carrying two fine roosters for the cockfight; ten hens, and a pig; and medicine for corns, a box of aspirin that I'm taking to my neighbor.
We're not quite finished with Lalo, we'll meet him again later.
Another new entry was Johnny Curtis & the Prairie Sons on the Dart label. It's kind of a bland version and I can't find out anything about Curtis, or even the label.
And even another new entry in January 1950: Bob Pandice (sometimes showing as "Pandis") on Franklin, Pennsylvania's Process label (which turned out lots of records by Pie Plant Pete And Bashful Harmonica Joe). He was a singer/guitarist, called "the Yodelin' Cowboy" (or, sometimes, "the Personality Troubadour"). I haven't heard this one.
Bob L. Pandice was born on July 11, 1929 in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He lived most of his life there, dying on November 26, 1977. An ad from Hammond Music called him "New Castle's Own" and identified the others on the record as Stewart Nay (electric guitar), Anthony Morgan (accordion), Jim Anderson (bass), Bill Martin (piano), and Chuck Fortanaro (whip). The earliest I can find him entertaining is when he and his sister sang at a birthday party for his aunt in March 1944. In the 1950 census, still living with his parents, he was an "entertainer". However, there was an August 10, 1949 blurb in the New Castle News that said he was living in Hollywood and was back to visit his parents for a few months. During that time, he "will be engaged in recordings while in the East". Any idea what he might have recorded? As far as I can tell, he never returned to Hollywood. Starting on September 28, 1949, he got a 15 minute radio show over local WKST, at 7:30 AM. It was really popular and was still going in September 1953. I haven't heard this one.
One more January 1950 entry, this one by Johnny Downs & His Squares And Rounds (on Imperial). It had been recorded on January 4. I haven't heard this one.
More sarcasm. The Oil City, Pennsylvania Blizzard of February 6, 1950 had: "Apparently the 'Mule Train' got through. It is being heard on the radio only every 30 minutes now."
A performance I would love to have seen. The February 18 Pittsburgh Courier talked about a Timmie Rogers show at Cafe Society Downtown (Manhattan):
His parody on "Mule Train", which ribs the Long Island Railroad, has been receiving the big accolade of praise from the columnists, reporters, and patrons of the club.
Remember that Vaughn Monroe and Gene Autry were fighting it out to use the song in a movie? It took a really long time, but Monroe lost. Autry's "Mule Train" was finally in theaters on January 28, 1950; Monroe's "Singing Guns" didn't make it until March 11, when it premiered in St. Louis. Not much of a mule train: each film only used four mules. In Monroe's, character actor Barry Kelley, sitting next to Monroe in the sequence, gets more screen time than the mules.
March 23, 1950 was Oscar night. "Mule Train" had been nominated for an Academy Award, but lost out to "Mona Lisa". Those mules are really getting tired (and, probably, resentful).
To show you exactly how tired of it they were, this was in the April 17 Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Times-Leader:
Newark, Arkansas, April 16 - A team of mules ran away with a wagon the other day. Farrell Conner, secretary of the Independence County Chamber Of Commerce, says they were frightened by the lusty strains of "Mule Train" coming from a juke box. [Or maybe it was just that mules can't put their hooves over their ears.]
It had to happen. Spike Jones and his City Slickers, who parodied any kind of music, took on "Mule Train". He'd been doing "Chinese Mule Train" in his revue long before he recorded it, for RCA, on March 10, 1950. The vocal was by Freddy Morgan (on the label as "Fleddy Morgan"). It's about as politically incorrect as you can get, but those were different times.
Much of it is sung in some language which isn't English. Since my knowledge of any Chinese language is non-existent, I have no idea if the words are real of if he's making them up, which is more probable. Then, he switches to badly-accented English, complaining that the mules go clippity clop for Frankie Laine, Bing Crosby, Vaughn Monroe, and Guy Lombardo (although he seems to realize that Lombardo didn't record it). Then the "plug of tobacco" stanza is also done in English. After that, the whole band comes in with some great jazzy music.
Released in late March, it was reviewed in the April 29 Cash Box and Billboard, the same week it debuted on Billboard's "Best Selling Pop Singles" chart as #13 in a three-week run.
Billboard (84): The Jones crew makes a laugh-provoking satire of the hit of some months ago by lending it a Chinese slant. Could start the nuisance smash all over again.
Cash Box: We're of the opinion that music fans have had enough of 'Mule Train' - in any form. This zany rendition by Spike Jones does make for a lot of laughs, but it won't dent the surface for consistent juke box play.
One more wacky one. In June 1950, Capitol released "Yiddish Mule Train" by Mickey Katz (father of Joel Grey). Meyer Myron "Mickey" Katz specialized in parodies of popular songs in a mixture of English and Yiddish (he can easily be called the Yiddish Spike Jones, and had actually been in Jones' band for a year): "How Much Is That Pickle In The Window", "The Poiple Kishke Eater", "Don't Let The Schmaltz Get In Your Eyes", etc. This one had enduring lyrics like "There's a load of lox and bagels for a cowboy in Las Vegas" and "Clippity clop, Rag Mop". I do have to admit that I can't understand a lot of what he's saying, but I'm proud to say that, in my Misspent Youth, I saw Mickey Katz perform "Yiddish Mule Train" in the Catskills.
From inception through the end of January 1950, I've talked about some 25 versions of the song. While Lalo Guerrero's was in Spanish, he was still American; that is, there haven't been any foreign versions yet. This is in contrast to "Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" and "Open The Door, Richard!", which went world-wide in a short period of time.
That was, of course, about to change. However, not in a big way like those other songs. Remember, the lyrics evoked a time in the American Old West. Unlike "Re-Bop" and "Richard", which were filled with nonsense, a lot of this wouldn't have much meaning to European audiences. All I can say about the next five recordings is that they were all from sometime in 1950.
Bruce Low had "Die Maultierpost" ("mule mail") on Elite Special (Switzerland). His name was spelled on some record labels as "Lowe", but it should be "Low". It's in German, so I don't know what he's saying, but the music and sound effects follow the American versions closely.
Jacques Hélian (with vocal by Jean Marco) had "Le Carrioleur" ("carriage driver") on Pathé (France). The lyrics are in French (written by Henri Contet), although he says "clippity clopping along".
Eero Wäre had "Mule Train", subtitled "Muuli Karavaani" ("mule caravan") on Triola (Finland), recorded on May 9, 1950. It's presumably sung in Finnish, but he does say "Mule Train", "Corona", and "Arizona". Although I don't understand it, it's a very pleasant recording.
Les Welch & His Orchestra did "Mule Train" on Pacific 10-0020 (Australia), recorded in February. This one was different. Since Australians had the Outback to contend with, it's quite probable that the original lyrics (he uses Frankie Laine's) meant more to them than to Europeans. However, Welch's mules were in trouble; his whip-cracks sound suspiciously like gunshots to me.
Don Boylan with Bob Ramjan & His Rhythm had another Australian version, this one on John Mystery's Top Pop label. I haven't heard this one, nor can I find out anything about Don Boylan. I can tell you that "John Mystery" was the alter ego of Lester Basil Sinclair, who wrote songs and children's books.
So, to recap, here are the versions I know were released in 1950:
Johnny Curtis & Prairie Sons - Dart 7001
Bob Pandice - Process 523
Johnny Downs & His Squares & Rounds - Imperial 1171
Lalo Guerrero con el Mariachi Imperial (Tiro de Mulas) - Imperial 395
Spike Jones & City Slickers (Chinese Mule Train; voc Freddy Morgan) - RCA 20-3741
Mickey Katz (Yiddish Mule Train) - Capitol 1063
Bruce Lowe (Die Maultierpost) - Elite Special (Switzerland) 17036
Jacques Hélian (Le Carrioleur) - Pathé PG 403 (France)
Eero Wäre - Triola T.8017 (Finland)
Les Welch & His Ork - Pacific 10-0020 (Australia)
Don Boylan, with Bob Ramjan & His Rhythm - John Mystery's T.P. 1030 (Australia)
The airwaves were quiet in 1951, but then, we got a couple of others.
Max Bygraves - It was part of "Cowpuncher's Cantata" on His Master's Voice (UK), from May 1952. He starts by saying that he was told when visiting America "you can't go wrong if you finish your show with a cowboy song". He therefore mixes up lyrics from "The Cry Of The Wild Goose", "Riders In The Sky", and "Mule Train", as well as a couple of others. For example: "My heart goes where the mule train goes". It's cute, but not really a part of the series.
In time for Christmas 1952, Bert Parks (of Miss America fame) recorded "Christmas Mule Train" on Golden Records for children. The only writer credit was to Glickman, Lange, and Heath, but the lyrics had to have been changed to reflect what Santa was bringing. I haven't heard this one.
Here's one from Denmark: Ove Sopp Og Hans Cowboys (Ove Sopp And His Cowboys). It was recorded for Danish Philips in 1953; the record is called "På Turné I Texas" (On Tour In Texas). The September 20, 1952 Billboard noted that Phillips had opened up a branch in Denmark and that Ove Sopp And His Cowboys "have recorded several Western and hillbilly tunes for the new firm". Sopp was born on January 27, 1916 in Copenhagen and died May 25, 1984. He played the accordion, as well being a bandleader and composer. It's very short (part of a medley with "Yankee Doodle" and "She Will Be Coming Round The Mountains") and sung in English with a fiddle in the background.
And that was it for several years.
In the March 10, 1954 Down Beat, there was an interview with Frankie Laine, in which he attributed his success with "Mule Train" to Mitch Miller. It read, in part:
Frank's calmness is less in evidence when he expresses his admiration for Mitch Miller, to whom the conversation turned next. "He is a great guy," exclaimed Laine, "for picking material for specific people. It doesn't take a lot to know if a song is a great song, but after you pick it, if you have nineteen or twenty artists, whom do you give it to?
"Like Mule Train. How did he know that I, and not one of the Western stars on the label, could sing it? When we recorded it in Chicago, we polished it for two days. I fell in love with the song but still didn't think I could do it. Then on the final Sunday, Mitch got me in a corner and shoved his fist under my chin.
"'You can sing it,' he said, 'You can sing anything. Now get out there and holler like a muleskinner would.'
"The thing is," said Frankie, "if I didn't know I could sing it, how did he?"
By the summer of 1955, Frankie Laine had his own TV show, "Frankie Laine Time". On the August 25 episode, he sang "Mule Train". He had a small whip to do his own effects, and managed to hit himself with it a couple of times. He took it well.
And then, it started again. Suddenly, in 1958, there was an instrumental version ("Mule Train Rock") by Vinny Lee on Old Town.
On October 29, 1958, Rod McKuen recorded a faithful version that was released on a Decca LP ("Anywhere I Wander") in May 1959.
This opened the floodgates and soon, version after version came pouring out. From this point on, the discography will show over 50 additional versions (and I know there are others). Unlike at the beginning, none of these were hits, but they kept coming. They're all in the discography at the end and I won't go into any except those I find interesting.
Here's one you need to see: Bob "Bob The Tray" Blackman. He recorded it for a British Decca LP in 1964 ("Pubs, Pearlies & Pints - The Entertainers From Dan Farson's Waterman's Arms"). There's a wonderful YouTube video of him performing the song (the black & white version is the best quality). You'll find out that he's called "The Tray" because, instead of using a whip, he hits himself in the head and knee with a tin tray. Really funny.
In spite of their name, the Rocky Mountains Ol' Time Stompers were a group from Milan, Italy, recording on the French Vogue label in 1965. The lead sings the song in English at a really fast tempo. The group consisted of: Giorgio Casellato (piano), Bruno De Filippi (guitar), Livio Cervelleri (saxophone), Lino Rognoni (drums), Baldo Panfili (trombone), Piero Villa (double bass). I don't know which of them sang lead.
Here's a really interesting one: The Fenders. They were a Navajo band from New Mexico on the QQ label from 1966. The group was Johnny Emerson, Ervin Becenti, Edward Gruber Jr., Paul Johnson, and Tom Pete.
And one more oddball: Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (vocal by Sherrill Milnes) on Telarc from 1989. Kunzel was the symphonic conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and Sherrill Milnes was an operatic baritone (who does a much better job than Nelson Eddy).
There were several reggae versions, for example Count Prince Miller on Jaguar from 1971. Miller is pretty faithful to the original melody, although the lyrics had to be changed to things like "there's a bunch of ripe bananas for the folks up on the corner". However, he really sounds like he's falling asleep singing. There's also "Reggay Train" by Derrick Morgan on Jackpot from 1972, which uses part of the melody.
Frankie Maximum (Frank Macchia) on a 1991 LP on Sound And Vision called Way'er Out West. Frank seems to be a Bay Area bass sax player; the vocal is by Laurence Walker. This a fun jazzy rendition.
Estéban on a 1995 Daystar Productions CD, called Spirits Of The West. Interestingly, guitarist Estéban Perez would become a member of a Santa Cruz, California group called "Mule Train", who had a 2003 album ("Be On Your Way"), which didn't contain the song.
Enge Buren (Dutch for "scary neighbors"). From a 2007 album called Mens Erger Je Maar! ("The Worse You Are, The Better"). It's sung in English with pseudo-hillbilly accents and is another fun version. The trio was: Pyr Tilma, Henk van der Weijden, and Michiel Bos, who called themselves "Bob", "Bep", and "Bram".
And that just leaves Bo Diddley. He'd recorded it in 1960 for Checker, but the decision was made to only release the instrumental track (which they called "Travelin' West"). I have to admit that I wouldn't have easily picked that out as an instrumental version of "Mule Train". However, calmer heads prevailed and, on a 2009 Diddley album (Ride On: The Chess Masters, Vol 3 - 1960-1961) on Hip-o Select, you can hear the vocal version, which features his own lyrics. Another of his self-referential songs, he sings about "Bo Diddley, cowboy".
Over the years, other than Vinny Lee's there were several other instrumental versions:
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Duane Eddy - Jamie JLP 3011 (Songs Of Our Heritage) - 5/60
Don Baker Trio - Capitol ST-1357 (Hammond For Dancing) - 60
Roy Buchanan ("Mule Train Stomp") - Swan 4088 - 10/61
Prince Buster & Skalalites - Islam FB 6391 - 64
And several foreign versions:
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Rusty Greaves - Zodiac EPZ-12 (Rusty Greaves Sings - New Zealand) - 60
Kevin Shegog & his Nightriders - Planet PZ 151 (Deep Down In Shegog - Australia) - 61
Frank Ifield - Capitol 5089 - 63 (recorded in England)
William Galassini e il Suo Complesso - Fonit SPF.31120 (Italy) - 63
Ray Pilgrim - Embassy 45-WB 596 (England) - 10/63
Romuald ("Cow-Boy") - Disc Az 1176 (France) - 64
Big Ben Banjo Band - Polydor 2371 101 (Country Banjo Party - Germany) - 70
Les Westerners - Vega 16.093 (Divorce Me C.O.D. - France) - 71
Texas Travellers - Vogue LD 16025 (Double Disque D'or Du Western Travellers - France) - 74
Young Generation - Pye PKL 5528 (Give A Little Whistle - UK) - 75
Alan Charles & Friends - no number (Cowboy - New Zealand) - ca 75
Johnny Cimmarron - Hillside HIL LP 1015 (Western Style - UK) - 79
Boxcar Willie - Warwick WW-5084 (King Of The Railroad) (UK) - 80
Carl Lee & Rhythm Rebels - Toast TD LP 853 (Italy) - 86
Group is from Turin, Italy
Jeff Turner - Blue Martin BLM 330102 (Jeff Western Musical Show - Switzerland) - 94
Peter Alexander & Das Orchester Karl Loubé - Bear Family BCD 15998 - 96
A while back, I told you to remember Lalo Guerrero, who had "Tiro de Mulas" back in 1950. In 1974, he released an album on Capitol Pops (from Mexico), called Las Ardillitas de Lalo Guerrero; Hablando con las animales (Lalo Guerrero's Little Squirrels; Speaking With The Animals). It contained Tiro de Mulas, in the style of David Seville's chipmunks. I'm not even sure if a born-and-bred Mexican could make much out of it, but it's cute. If you're interested, the ardillitas are named Pánfilo, Anacleto, and Demetrio.
And finally, who better to have the latest version than the quintessential C&W group, Riders In The Sky ("America's Favorite Cowboys"). It was included on a 2018 album called 40 Years The Cowboy Way on Riders Radio Records.
Here are the remaining versions I haven't yet illustrated:
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Maple Leaf Four - Embassy WEP 1040 ("Smokey Mountain Round-Up" - UK) - 60
Starliners - Wenlark 301 - 3/61
Freddy & Heartaches - Dot 16247 - 7/61
Marc Taynor - Barclay 72.524 ("Western Twist" - EP - France) - 62
Grandpa Jones - King 809 ("Rollin' Along With Grandpa Jones") - 3/63
[No artist] - Top Ten TPS 507 (UK) - 63
Little Bob (Camille Bob) - Tamm T-2005 - 64
Freddie Williams & Sheltones - Largo 1500 - 64
Bob Summers - Liberty 55739 - 64
Shondells - La Louisianne LL-109 ("At The Saturday Hop") - 64
Lorne Greene - RCA LP-3678 ("Portrait Of The West") - 66
Tommy Faile - Dot 17014 - 67 (Produced by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith)
Sleepy LaBeef - Sun 138 ("Western Gold") - 1/75
Osborne Brothers - Rounder SS-04 ("The Osborne Brothers") - 78
"Doc" Tommy Scott Snake Oil Band - Katona 15454 (an EP) - 86
Macavity's Cat - Flat Cat 1 - 87
Velaires - Bear Family BCD 16168 AH ("The Velaires") - 97
Open Road - Rounder 11661-0562 ("Lucky Drive") - 2005
Marty Stuart & Fabulous Superlatives - Rainy Day 92907 - 2007
Roger Smith - CD Baby B003QLECBI ("The Idaho Kid Rides Again") - 2010
Michael Daly - self-published CD ("Westward Ho! Great Songs Of The American West") - 2015
"Mule Train" is one of the most enduring songs in the American songbook. There are nearly 100 recorded versions listed in the discography - from 1949 to 2018. I'm sure there are others, not to mention many, many live performances of the song. Neither a love song nor nonsense; it evokes nostalgia and travel in a simpler time (don't bother me about rattlesnakes).
Ellis "Buz" Butler - original, unreleased, unknown label - mid 40s
Ellis "Buz" Butler - Decca 46194 - 10/49
Frankie Laine & Mule Skinners - Mercury 5345 - 10/49
Bing Crosby - Decca 24798 - 10/49
Vaughn Monroe & Moon Men - RCA 20-3600 - 10/49
Gordon MacRae - Capitol 57-777 - 10/49
Tennessee Ernie [Ford] - Capitol 57-40258 - 10/49
Arthur (Guitar Boogie) Smith & Crackerjacks - MGM 10577 - 10/49
Syncopators - National 9093 - 11/49
Gene Autry - Columbia 20651 - 11/49
Burl Ives - Columbia 38644 - 11/49
Nelson Eddy - Columbia 38645 - 11/49
Val Tino & Wayfarers - Dana 2059 - 11/49
Cowboy Copas & Grandpa Jones - King 835 - 11/49
Ben Smith Quartet - Abbey 3009 - 11/49
Mac McGuire And His Harmony Rangers - Rich-R-Tone 456 - 11/49
Joe Culpepper - Vocalion 55074 - 11/49
Dick Haymes & Andrews Sisters - Duodisc transcription from CLUB 15 (CBS radio)
Woody Herman & Nat "King" Cole - Capitol 57-787 - 11/49
Maddox Brothers And Rose [Maddox] (vocal by Rose) - 4 Star 1399 - 11/49
Madman Taylor (Mule Train Boogie) - Gotham G-213 - 12/49
Mary McGoon (Ray Goulding) - Bob & Ray 100 - 12/49
Frank Lawver & Prairie Serenaders - Tops 234 - 12/49
Rex Turner - Varsity 230 - 12/49
Johnny Curtis & Prairie Sons - Dart 7001 - 1/50
Bob Pandice - Process 523 - 1/50
Johnny Downs & His Squares & Rounds - Imperial 1171 - 1/50
Lalo Guerrero con el Mariachi Imperial (Tiro de Mulas) - Imperial 395 - 1/50
Spike Jones & City Slickers (Chinese Mule Train; vocal: Freddy Morgan) - RCA 20-3741 - 3/50
Mickey Katz (Yiddish Mule Train) - Capitol 1063 - 6/50
Bruce Low (Die Maultierpost) - Elite Special (Switzerland) 17036 - 50
Jacques Hélian (Le Carrioleur) - Pathé PG 403 (France) - 50
Eero Wäre - (subtitled Muuli Karavaani) - Triola T.8017 (Finland) - 50
Les Welch & His Ork - Pacific 10-0020 (Australia) - 50
Don Boylan, with Bob Ramjan & His Rhythm - John Mystery's T.P. 1030 (Australia) - 50
Max Bygraves (part of Cowpuncher's Cantata) - His Master's Voice B.10250 (UK) - 5/52
Bert Parks (Christmas Mule Train) - Golden Records BR20A - 11/52
Ove Sopp Og Hans Cowboys - Philips P 55000H (Denmark) - 53
Vinny Lee (Mule Train Rock) - Old Town 1061 - 11/58 (instrumental)
Rod McKuen - Decca 8882 - 5/59
Duane Eddy - Jamie JLP 3011 ("Songs Of Our Heritage") - 5/60 (instrumental)
Don Baker Trio - Capitol ST-1357 ("Hammond For Dancing") - 60 (instrumental)
Maple Leaf Four - Embassy WEP 1040 ("Smokey Mountain Round-Up" - UK) - 60
Rusty Greaves - Zodiac EPZ-12 ("Rusty Greaves Sings" - New Zealand) - 60
Starliners - Wenlark 301 - 3/61
Kevin Shegog & his Nightriders - Planet PZ 151 ("Deep Down In Shegog" - Australia) - 61
Freddy & Heartaches - Dot 16247 - 7/61
Roy Buchanan (Mule Train Stomp) - Swan 4088 - 10/61 (instrumental)
Marc Taynor - Barclay 72.524 ("Western Twist" - EP - France) - 62
Grandpa Jones - King 809 ("Rollin' Along With Grandpa Jones") - 3/63
William Galassini e il Suo Complesso - Fonit SPF.31120 (Italy) - 63
Ray Pilgrim - Embassy 45-WB 596 (England) - 10/63
Frank Ifield - Capitol 5089 - 10/63
[No artist] - Top Ten TPS 507 (UK) - 63
Little Bob (Camille Bob) - Tamm T-2005 - 64
Bob "Bob The Tray" Blackman - Decca LK 4613 ("Pubs, Pearlies & Pints - The Entertainers From Dan Farson's Waterman's Arms" - UK) - 64
Romuald (Cow-Boy) - Disc Az 1176 (France) - 64
Freddie Williams & Sheltones - Largo 1500 - 64
Bob Summers - Liberty 55739 - 64
Shondells - La Louisianne LL-109 ("At The Saturday Hop") - 64
Prince Buster & Skalalites - Islam FB 6391 - 64 (instrumental)
Rocky Mountains Ol' Time Stompers - Disques Vogue 18012 ("Ol' Time Stompers" EP - France) - 65
Lorne Greene - RCA LP-3678 ("Portrait Of The West") - 66
Fenders - QQ 12Q245 ("Second Time 'Round") - 66
Tommy Faile - Dot 17014 - 67
Big Ben Banjo Band - Polydor 2371 101 ("Country Banjo Party" - Germany) - 70
Count Prince Miller & Upsetters - Trojan TTL-28 ("Scratch The Upsetter Again") - 70
Les Westerners - Vega 16.093 ("Divorce Me C.O.D." - France) - 71
Derrick Morgan (Reggay Train) - Jackpot [no number] - 72
Lalo Guerrrero (Tiro de Mulas) - Capitol Pops Pop-285 ("Las Ardillitas de Lalo Guerrero; Hablando con las animales" - Mexico) - 74
Texas Travellers - Vogue LD 16025 ("Double Disque D'or Du Western Travellers" - France) - 74
Sleepy LaBeef - Sun 138 ("Western Gold") - 1/75
Young Generation - Pye PKL 5528 ("Give A Little Whistle" - UK) - 75
Alan Charles & Friends - no label or number ("Cowboy" - New Zealand) - ca 75
Osborne Brothers - Rounder SS-04 ("The Osborne Brothers") - 78
Johnny Cimmarron - Hillside HIL LP 1015 ("Western Style" - UK) - 79
Boxcar Willie - Warwick WW-5084 ("King Of The Railroad" - UK) - 80
"Doc" Tommy Scott Snake Oil Band - Katona 15454 (an EP) - 86
Carl Lee & Rhythm Rebels - Toast TD LP 853 (Italy) - 86
Macavity's Cat - Flat Cat 1 - 87
Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (vocal by Sherrill Milnes) - Telarc CD-80191- 89
Frank Macchia (as "Frankie Maximum") - Sound And Vision – SV-205 ("Way'er Out West") - 91
Jeff Turner - Blue Martin BLM 330102 ("Jeff Martin Musical Show" - Switzerland) - 94
Ronnie Dawson - Crystal Clear Sound – CCR-9431-2 ("Monkey Beat") - 94
Estéban [Perez] - Daystar Productions DSP 0006 ("Spirits Of The West") - 95
Peter Alexander & Das Orchester Karl Loubé - Bear Family BCD 15998 ("Rot-Weiss-Rot") - 96
Velaires - Bear Family BCD 16168 AH ("The Velaires") - 97
Recorded 10/61 for Jamie, but unreleased
Open Road - Rounder 11661-0562 ("Lucky Drive") - 2005
Enge Buren - Enge Buren EB 2003 ("Mens Erger Je Maar!" - Netherlands) - 12/2007
Marty Stuart & Fabulous Superlatives - Rainy Day 92907 - 2007
Bo Diddley - Hip-o Select 2705530 - 7/2009 (recorded 1960; his own lyrics)
Roger Smith - CD Baby B003QLECBI ("The Idaho Kid Rides Again") - 2010
Michael Daly - self-published CD ("Westward Ho! Great Songs Of The American West") - 2015
Riders In The Sky - Riders Radio Records ("40 Years The Cowboy Way") - 2018
