| "Along Came Jones" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Coasters | ||||
| B-side | "That Is Rock & Roll" | |||
| Released | May 1959 | |||
| Recorded | March 26, 1959 | |||
| Length | 2:53 | |||
| Label | Atco 6141 | |||
| Writer(s) | Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller | |||
| The Coasters singles chronology | ||||
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"Along Came Jones" is a comedic song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and originally recorded by The Coasters, but covered by many other groups and individuals.
Contents |
Told from the perspective of a person who decides to watch television, the song tells of the interaction between a gunslinger stock villain, "Salty Sam," and a ranch-owning woman, "Sweet Sue," on an unnamed television show.
The TV show features various damsel in distress situations, whereby Sam abducts Sue and places her in peril, intended to force her to give him the deed to her ranch – or face a gruesome death:
However, Sue is rescued, and Sam's plans foiled, by the hero – a "tall, thin, slow-walkin', slow-talkin', long, lean, lanky" fellow named Jones. (How Jones manages to defeat Sam and rescue Sue is never told.)
The song was inspired in part by the 1945 Gary Cooper film Along Came Jones, a Western comedy in which "long, lean, lanky" Cooper mercilessly lampoons his "slow-walkin', slow-talkin'" screen persona; songwriter Mike Stoller studied orchestration with Arthur Lange, who composed the score for the film. The song was a satirical statement about how mainstream entertainment was irrelevant to 1950s teenagers in general, and to black teenagers in particular. (An early draft of the lyric made pointed references to Jones' white hat and white horse.)
A cover version was recorded by novelty pop artist Ray Stevens in 1969, reaching a peak of #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. Stevems was also the voice of the outlaw. Stevens used a girl who yells and screams "Help", with humorous ad-libs, ("he tied me up again" , "Here comes the Train, Here comes the Train, Help!!") also including the sounds of recorded laughter and cheering from an audience, also including a brief quote from Rossini's "William Tell Overture" before it ends. Another cover was done by the Righteous Brothers on their Sayin' Something album, notable for the "And then?" vocalist losing his patience by the third verse.[1]
Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones (of The Monkees fame), did a cover version with Monkees songwriters, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, on the album Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart in 1976. It was notable for Davy (the "Jones" of the title) making humorous comments in a mock British posh accent ("That's not cricket, old chap").
French singer Henri Salvador covered the song in French but with different lyrics and a different children's television hero in the starring role: "Zorro est Arrivé" (1964).[2]
The song is alluded to in the song "Million Dollar Bash" by Bob Dylan.
Norwegian group The Key Brothers & The Quivers recorded a (norwegian) version in 1965 called “Og så kom helgenen frem” (And then The Saint Arrived), putting The Saint (Roger Moore) in Jones’ role. It features the signature melody line from “The Saint” show.