the song goes way back, as established at the start of this thread, and has been recorded by countless artistes. Best known as "Streets Of Laredo", the story of a dying cowboy, it was recorded under this title and as "Only The Hangman" and "I'm A Young Cowboy" by the legendary singing cowboy Rex Allen. His son, Rex Allen Jnr went on to become a major country star but always sang western songs as well, like his dad, including "Streets Of Laredo". Tex Ritter and Marty Robbins also recorded versions.

"Only the Heartaches" introduces the story of the hired gun and the gambling saloon, "Clancy's". It was a hit for the English country singer Houston Wells and the Marksmen who recorded it for the famous pop producer Joe Meek. It was later covered by the Karl Denver trio - a Scottish artiste - on their live LP "At The Yew Tree" - The Yew Tree was a famous pub and music venue. Irish vocalist Val Doonican also recorded the song but I believe only as a "B" side.

Houston Wells moved to Ireland for some years where he headed several showbands before moving to New Zealand where he "retired" from the music business. He did occasionally record at his son's studio and a few years back I had the pleasure of working with him to reissue many of his original cuts along with the unissued New Zealand cuts on a double CD for Jasmine records. The set is called "From Joe Meek To New Zealand". Houston told me that Meek often speeded up the master tapes before issue but did not add the intended backing, so for those tracks on the Jasmine set, Meek's son slowed them to the correct speed and added the elements of backing that had been intended back in the 60s. The original Meek mixes had already been issued on other labels but Houston preferred the Jasmine set because it reflected his true sound.


Only The Heartaches is included in the set but was not one of the tracks that Meek had speeded up, so you hear it as it was originally issued. Houston had done a lot of research into the song and was aware of its pedigree.