[78-L] Will Rogers Song

Tue Aug 17 10:42:34 PDT 2010

The new edition of "Blues and Gospel Records 1890-1943" has a title index, and a pretty good one, too. It not only gives the title, it gives the name of the artist and the page number. Nothing under "Wiley" or "Will Rogers" though.

Meade and Spottswood's "Country Music Sources" does have a listing for songs about Rogers and Post's deaths, and nothing has been left out that I can see.

There were three different songs listed:

The Fate of Will Rogers and Wiley Post (written by Bill Cox)
Bill Cox 9-3-35  Issued on ARC 5-11-54, Cq 8543, Me 92070 (Canadian Melotone), and Min M-933 (Canadian Minerva)

Will and Wiley's Last Flight (written by Bill Cox)
Bill Cox 9-3-35 Issued on ARC 5-11-54, Cq 8543, and Me 92070

The Last Flight of Wiley Post (written by Fred Rose)
Ray Whitley 8-22-35  Issued on De 5132 as "Wiley Post"
Ken Card  8-28-35  Issued on Montgomery Ward 4941 
Ken Card  9-26-35  Issued on Champion 45148

Rogers died on August 15, 1935, so it looks like Whitley is the winner of the Death Derby, hustling over to the recording studio one week after the crash.

Cary Ginell

> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:24:18 -0700
> From: wlmoorman3 at yahoo.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Will Rogers Song
> 
> Last night I checked Tony Russell's pre-war country discography, and in addition 
> to the ones already given, there were songs cut by Bob Miller (ARC, unreleased) 
> and Ken Card, although I don't have the titles with me this morning. All were 
> done within the first three weeks or so after the crash. (Godrich & Dixon 
> lacking a title index, I couldn't check blues).
> 
> For a little more offtopic background color, I can add that my father 
> administered the first antibiotic ever given in Washington D.C., to Will Rogers' 
> widow in the early forties. This was before its' mass production, and  
> penicillin was then only available in tiny quantities; in the U.S. it took a 
> special request to the team in Boston who had the only domestic supply. Mrs. 
> Rogers, who presented with an advanced pulmonary infection, was considered high 
> profile enough that his administrators at Sibley Hospital in D. C. wanted to try 
> anything. Indeed, she improved enough to leave their hospital, but then died in 
> 1944. Her death resulted in the couple's Pacific Palisades ranch becoming Will 
> Rogers State Park, and one might suppose that her D. C. penicillin trial wasn't 
> the last time in D.C. that a "fungi" met a "staff" infection.
> 
> Warren   
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com>
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Sent: Tue, August 17, 2010 10:01:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Will Rogers Song
> 
> 
> Two more (forgot the flip sides):
> 
> Will and Wiley's Last Flight - also by Cox on Conqueror 8543
> (The Last Flight of ) Wiley Post - Ray Whitley - Decca 5132
> 
> Cary Ginell
> 
> > From: soundthink at live.com
> > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 06:58:40 -0700
> > Subject: Re: [78-L] Will Rogers Song
> > 
> > 
> > The ones I have are:
> > 
> > Will Rogers' Highway - Woody Guthrie (Library of Congress recordings - Elektra 
> >box set)
> > The Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post - Bill Cox (Conqueror 8543)
> > Will Rogers (Your Friend and My Friend) - Ray Whitley (Decca 5132)
> > 
> > Don't forget the hit 1991 Broadway musical: "The Will Rogers Follies," which 
> >proved to be the last collaboration between lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph 
> >Green, with music by Cy Coleman. An old-fashioned, slam-bang, Busby 
> >Berkeley-style musical with great songs, dancing, and sparkle. Loved the show 
> >the first time I saw it, at the Palace on Times Square in 1992. Keith Carradine 
> >was the star.
> > 
> > Cary Ginell
> > 
> > > From: udmacon1 at hotmail.com
> > > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > > Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:16:29 -0400
> > > Subject: [78-L] Will Rogers Song
> > > 
> > > 
> > > "Will Rogers Your Friend And My Friend"
> > > 
> > > Ken Card, Decca, Sep 1935 (b/w "The Last Flight Of Wiley Post")
> > > 
> > > Ray Whittley, Decca, Aug 1935 (b/w "The Last Flight Of Wiley Post")
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > BILL KNOWLTON, "Bluegrass Ramble," Sundays: 9 pm to midnight (EST) over 
> >WCNY-FM (91.3) Syracuse, WUNY (89.5) Utica, WJNY (90.9) Watertown NY, also: 
> >www.wcny.org udmacon1 at hotmail.com Since 1973! PO Box 2400, Syracuse NY 
> >13220-2400. 315-457-6100
> > > **********************************************************************
> > > L(o)(o)K!!! "Bluegrass Ramble" at the great NEW YORK STATE FAIR, Saturday 
> >afternoon, Aug. 28 at WCNY-TV/FM's exhibit tent in front of the Center Of 
> >Progress Building! 3 to 6 pm! Bands include REMINGTON RYDE, THE ATKINSON FAMILY, 
> >and DYER SWITCH. Come on out to Syracuse!!! (Show will be broadcast Sunday 
> >night, Aug 29th on the "Bluegrass Ramble" radio show...)
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> > > http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
> > 
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