The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #65097   Message #1859981
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
16-Oct-06 - 12:31 AM
Thread Name: Tune: Cigarettes and Whisky and Wild Wild Women
Subject: RE: Tune: Cigarettes and Whisky and Wild Wild Women
As Jim Dixon posted, this is a Tim Spencer song.
Spencer (born 1908, Webb City, MO) was one of the original Gold Star Rangers along with Bob Nolan (born 1908, New Brunswick, Canada) and Len Slye (born 1911, Cincinnati, OH). Moving to Hollywood, they were hired by Harry Hall of KFWB, and he coined the name "Sons of the Pioneers." In the 1930's, the group appeared in many films, with Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, and others. Tim Spencer left in 1936 but continued to write songs used by the Pioneers. He died in 1974. Other hits of his included "The Timber Trail" and "The Everlasting Hills of Oklahoma."
The last of the original group, Len Slye, died in 1998- He was, of course, known to the world as Roy Rogers, the name he adopted in 1937 when he left the group. Rogers often used the Sons in his pictures.
Tim Spencer's "Cigareets, ..." appeared on D7VB 450 (Victor 20-2199) on January 5, 1947. The recording group included Bob Nolan, Tim Spencer, Ken Carson and Hugh Farr as vocalists, and instrumentalists Hugh and Karl Farr, R. Call, C. Roberts, Perry Botkin, Shug Fisher and G. Braunsdorf.
From notes by Brian Golbey, made for the ASV Living Era cds issued in 2002.