Ramrod (Duane Eddy song)

"Ramrod" is a song written by Al Casey and performed by Duane Eddy. The song reached #17 on the R&B chart and #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958.^[1] The song appeared on his 1958 album, Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel.^[2]

The song was produced by Lee Hazlewood and Lester Sill.^[3] Recorded at Audio Recorders in Phoenix and originally released on the tiny Ford record label in 1957 as by "Duane Eddy and His Rock-A-Billies" because Casey was under contract to Dot Records at the time. Casey is the lead guitarist on his song as well as the flip side, "Caravan." The plan was for Eddy to make his own recording of the song as the follow up to the hit "Rebel-'Rouser" in 1958. That same year, during a live appearance on the Dick Clark show, Clark asked Eddy if he had a short song to play over the credits at the end of the show as it ran faster than expected. Instead of playing a song that he had already recorded he decided to play "Ramrod" that he had been rehearsing while on the road, (with Casey playing bass.) The following week Jamie Records in Philadelphia was getting calls from it's distributors for copies of a record that had not been recorded. Eddy was still touring on the East Coast and there was not time to get back to Audio Recorders for a session. With pressure from Jamie Records for a tape to make records from, Hazlewood (with Casey's approval) in Los Angeles, took the original Ford "Ramrod" master tape, sped it up slightly to add a saxophone solo, and yelps and claps by The Sharps as per usual and he made it slightly longer. Shortly thereafter Jamie was pressing "Duane Eddy 'Ramrod'" records with "Rebel-'Rouser" still high on the charts.

Other versions

• The Challengers released a version on their 1963 album, Surfbeat.^[4]

References