(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend

by Robert Wilkinson

Today we have a musical interlude celebrating the “cowboy” song voted #1 of all time. We have every great version ever done!

Written by Stan Jones and released on June 5, 1948, this is supposedly an old tale told to Stan by an old native of Douglas, AZ. The Western Writers of America chose it as the greatest Western song of all time. From Wikipedia, we are told:

The song tells a folk tale of a cowboy who has a vision of red-eyed, steel-hooved cattle thundering across the sky, being chased by the spirits of damned cowboys. One warns him that if he does not change his ways, he will be doomed to join them, forever "trying to catch the Devil's herd across these endless skies." The story has been linked with old European myths of the Wild Hunt, in which a supernatural group of hunters passes the narrator in wild pursuit.

Stan Jones stated he had been told the story when he was 12 years old by an old Native American who resided north-east of the Douglas, Arizona border town, a few miles behind D Hill, north of Agua Prieta, Sonora. The Native Americans, possibly Apache, who lived within Cochise County, believed that when souls vacate their physical bodies, they reside as spirits in the sky, resembling ghost riders. He related this story to Wayne Hester, a boyhood friend (later owner of the Douglas Cable Company). As both boys were looking at the clouds, Stan shared what the old Native American had told him, looking in amazement as the cloudy shapes were identified as the "ghost riders" that years later, would be transposed into lyrics. The melody is based on the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”

Though released in June 1948, here’s the original recording by Stan Jones and his Death Valley Rangers released on vinyl in May 1949. “Riders in the Sky”

Burl Ives jumped on the bandwagon and in February 1949 released this version which went to #21 on the charts. “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky"

A month later Vaughan Monroe’s baritone took it to #1! This is the most famous version. “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend”

If you want to see some SERIOUS picking, here’s a clip from 1990 with Glen Campbell and Roy Clark dueling on guitar having fun doing a ripping version of "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend”

Thanks to a friend of the site, here's the version by the Ramrods, complete with weird sound effects! "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend”

So of course, I went looking for one I remembered by the Outlaws, and here it is! Electric western music! The first one’s live, the second one’s the studio version. From 1981, a great live video of the Outlaws cranking out "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend.” Here’s the studio version! "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend”

We’ll close with a rare live performance clip of Vaughan Monroe performing this classic in 1965, complete with his orchestra with strings, horns and a celestial choir! “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend”

The encores? Only two possible performances left. The first is a video from Nassau Coliseum on Long Island in 1990, with the Highwaymen give us their take on “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend”

The second encore is legend. From Blues Brothers 2000, we have Elwood and “Mighty” Mack in a blinding rainstorm performing as a “bluegrass band” with amazing special effects of ghost cattle and ghost riders! Here’s 6 minutes of fun. “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend”

© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson

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