[78-L] Unissued western swing on Bear Family

[Ray Kilcoyne]

Your answer intrigues me.  Was Wills the only one to use this device?  What 
was the reason?  Certainly after the war the "NEW" wasn't used when lyrics 
were added.  For example when lyrics were added to EBB TIDE, it wasn't 
called NEW EBB TIDE.  I'm trying to think of an example from the pre-war 
era, but I can't come up with one.  But I'm sure there must be some cases. 
Not only that, but when others recorded NEW SAN ANTONIO ROSE, like Bing 
Crosby, Ray Price and Patsy Cline, they dropped the "NEW".
RayK


From: Cary Ginell
Easy. The "new" prefix simply means that lyrics were added to an earlier 
recorded instrumental. "San Antonio Rose" (a variant of "Spanish Two-Step") 
was recorded as an instrumental in 1938. Lyrics were added for the 1940 
recording. The same goes for other Wills recordings, including "Spanish 
Two-Step," "Maiden's Prayer," "Texas Playboy Rag," and the like.

What's interesting is that the sound of the Texas Playboys was totally 
different by that time. The 1938 sessions featured the sounds of a string 
band while the 1940 group was no different than any of the swing bands of 
the period led by Dorsey, Goodman, Miller, et. al. No stringed instruments 
can be heard on "New San Antonio Rose," except maybe a rhythm guitar in the 
background, if you could hear it at all. The rest was horns. As popular as 
this recording became, it alienated many of Wills' fans, who preferred to 
hear Wills play fiddle and the sound of a string band. Wills took his 
innovation a little too far for the time. Wills removed nearly all of the 
horns, and never had more than one or two in any of his subsequent groups, 
usually a reed instrument and a muted trumpet.

>
> Cary, here's a question I've never seen the answer to here or any other
> place.  What is the difference between NEW SAN ANTONIO ROSE and SAN 
> ANTONIO
> ROSE, and the same for others like NEW SPANISH TWO STEP.
> RayK