Bing Crosby - "Mule Train"

[larrydonguy]

Unlike, say, White Christmas or Just One More Chance, this isn't a song that Bing should be remembered by. It was fine for Frankie Laine but Bing's mellowness makes this novelty number sound a bit TOO ridiculous.

[markalson1938]

@larrydonguy Your right, this is not a Bing type song. He made it big only because Bing's fans would buy anything he recorded. But somethings should be left alone. Bing just wasn't a good cowboy.

[Th3wh1t3kn1ght]

A voice like velvet

[pask54]

Great mule pics! especially the one of the army. I have one of Camp Pendleton soldiers with a mule.

[Ulysses61]

I think Burl Ives' version is the best of all, though Bing, obviously, had the greatest voice of any of them.

[R2Kinfo]

Gregg30 - Sinatra recorded some trash. "Duets" anyone? Some of his work in the early 70s was pretty ghastly for a bloke that hadn't even reached 60.

[Gregg30]

I love Bing but recording stuff like this has hurt his standing today. He was a great singer with a beautiful voice but Sinatra or Tony Bennett would have refused to sing a dumb song like this.

[Labaron26]

Did any song ever chart in the top 15 before by 5 different artists?

[markalson1938]

This was real common back in the old days. When a song started to be popular

almost every record company would rush

out their version of the song. This practice

ended when Rock took over the Charts.

shows like Bandstand highlighted the singer and their songs and the kids ran out and bought that one and no one elses.

[markalson1938]

I don't know where you got your information, but Crosby was the last of the singers to come out with this song in 1949. This song was the "B" side of bing's recording the "A" side was " Dear Hearts and Gental People" That's why it sold so well but it still didn't sell as well as Frankie's. Vaughn Monroe was the first

to record it for the movie "Singing Guns"

and was the first on the market. I never heard of Nat doing this song. Jones made a parody of everything.

[strikket]

According to WIKIPEDIA "Dear hearts and gentle people" was recorded by Gordon MCcrae. "Mule train" was the b side of the record. Bing Crosby version was number 2 on the Bilboard chart (not 4 as it says on the videotext). Tennessie Ernie Ford and Vayghn Monroe both peaked at number 10 on the Bilboard chart. Frankie Lane was number 1 with this song.

[markalson1938]

Don't believe everything you read on WIKIPEDIA.

That site is full of mistakes on everything. According to Joel whitburn's "Pop Memories 1890 -1954" which is the bible for such things , the charted hit's for Mule Train was as follows:

Frankie Laine - #1

Bing Crosby - #4

Ten Ernie Ford -#9

Vaughn Monroe - #10

Gordon MacRae - #14

Yes Gordon recorded "Dear Hearts" But Bing had the hit of it.

[cf1934]

@markalson1938 Mitch Miller said that Frankie's version was the first record to ever sell two million copies.

[R2Kinfo]

I've read that Bing's version of "Mule Train" sold more copies that Laine's version - although Laine was more closely identified with the song. Frankie Laine recorded the song first for Columbia but Decca got Bing's version out first. Nat King Cole also recorded this with Woody Herman, while Spike Jones did a parody.

[markalson1938]

Frankie recorded "Mule Train" for Mercury

Records in 1949 not Columbia. Frankie went to Columbia in 1951.

[R2Kinfo]

bingcro, i sure do. Let me know if you want me to send you a copy.

[bingcro]

thanks for trying anyway.any other bing fans out there have tie a yellow ribbon pse

[bingcro]

thank u thank u i collect bing and didnt have this one, you dont happen to have him singing tie a yellow ribbon do u

[markalson1938]

Sorry To take so long to answer but I hadd some computer trouble, a nasty virus. I looked through My collection, I thought I had it on an album called "Songs I wish I had sung" But I couldn't find it. Sorry

[felicia1882]

Hilarious. Thank you for posting!

[highnrising]

This is a pretty awful knockoff.

I guess that's why it's so hard to find.

Sounds like Bing's record label wanted to steal Laine's thunder and forced Bing into the studio to cut this.

Embarrassing!

Nice photos, though.

[markalson1938]

Your right, Bing should have left it alone. But he recorded for Decca almost everything that became a hit for any other record lable. I collect the recordings of any one else that tries to cover Frankie Laine. This song I

found in a box set of Lp's of Bings Recordings

in London England while I was in the Army stationed over there. I put it out not because

it's good but it's rare.

[highnrising]

Interesting--

You must have a shelf-ful of "We'll Be Together Again." That seems to be Laine's most successful song as a writer and one that was covered by most of the greats.

I've got two questions for you:

1. Can you name any song that was a flop for Laine but later became a big hit for another artist?

2. Which artist has the most records in common with Laine? I can think of about half a dozen songs that Laine and Johnny Cash have both recorded.

[markalson1938]

I can think of two songs that Frankie recorded and someone else had the hit with it.

The first was a recording he made in 1951 that went nowhere But in 1954 Alan Dale, Don Cornell and Johnny Desmond got together and recorded "Heart Of My Heart" for a top 10 hiy. But the one I think you are refering to was what was one of the last songs Frankie did for Columbia in 1964 and was a big hit for Gene Pitney later that year, "I'm Gonna Be Strong"

[markalson1938]

I had to cut this in two because of limited character count. Johnny Cash did do a lot of

Frankie's western songs but they never had a hit in common. Several singers had hits on hits of Frankie's. And since I don't have what

the other singers recorded only their hits I couldn't give you stright answer.

[highnrising]

I was about to say that Laine and Cash both had hits with "Ghost Riders In the Sky" but I guess Frankie's definitive version was not a single.