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Along Came Jones (song)

"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
"Charlie Brown"
(1959)
"Along Came Jones"
(1959)
"Poison Ivy"
(1959)

"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.

Told from the perspective of a person watching television, the song tells of the interaction between a gunslinger villain, "Salty Sam," and a ranch owner, "Sweet Sue," on an unnamed television show.

The TV show features various damsel in distress scenarios, 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 defeats Sam and rescues Sue is never told.)

The tenor saxophone heard on this record by The Coasters is King Curtis, who played sax on many of their hits.

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 composition with Arthur Lange, who composed the score for the film. "What was original in the humor of 'Along Came Jones' was not its parody of shoot-'em-ups … What was new were black voices mocking an iconic Caucasian genre fifteen years before Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. Leiber's original lyrics sharpened the racial angle by calling attention to the hero's white hat, white boots, and faithful white horse. Those lines did not pass muster with Jerry Wexler, the executive producer at Atlantic to whom Leiber and Stoller generally reported."

The Righteous Brothers covered the song on their Sayin' Something album (1967). In their version, by the third verse Bill Medley, who says the repeated line "And then ...", has lost patience with the story as told by Bobby Hatfield. A cover version by novelty pop artist Ray Stevens in 1969, reached a peak of #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. Stevens was also the voice of "Salty Sam," and (in falsetto) of "Sweet Sue," who screams for help and makes humorous ad-libs (e.g. "there he go again, tyin' me up, same routine" and "here comes the train, here comes the train"). The track features dubbed-in laughter and cheering from a "live" audience, and includes a brief quote from Rossini's "William Tell Overture" at the end.


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