"Back in the Saddle Again" was the signature song of American cowboy entertainer

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

. It was co-written by Autry with Ray Whitley and first released in

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

. The song was associated with Autry throughout his career and was used as the name of Autry's autobiography in 1976. Members of the

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include historian ...

chose it as fifth of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

History

Although the song has long been associated with Gene Autry, the original version of "Back in the Saddle Again" was written by Ray Whitley for the film ''

Border G-Man ''Border G-Man'' is a 1938 American adventure film directed by David Howard and written by Oliver Drake. The film stars George O'Brien, Laraine Day, Ray Whitley, John Miljan and Rita La Roy. The film was released on June 24, 1938, by RKO Pic ...

'' (

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

, June 24, 1938) starring George O'Brien,

Laraine Day Laraine Day (born La Raine Johnson, October 13, 1920 – November 10, 2007) was an American actress, radio and television commentator, and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contract star. As a leading lady, she was paired opposite major film sta ...

, and Ray Whitley in which Ray Whitley and his Six Bar Cowboys sang the song. With Ray Whitley's Rangers, Whitley recorded the song for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

on 26 October 1938,

matrix number A matrix number is an alphanumeric code (and on occasion, other symbols) stamped or handwritten (or a combination of the two) into the run-out groove area of a phonograph record. This is the non-grooved area between the end of the final band o ...

64701, issued as Decca 5628 backed with "On the Painted Desert", matrix number 64703. Gene Autry liked the song and together with Whitley revised it and recorded it in April 1939, then performed "Back in the Saddle Again" on film in ''

Rovin' Tumbleweeds ''Rovin' Tumbleweeds'' is a 1939 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette and Mary Carlisle. Written by Betty Burbridge, Dorrell McGowan, and Stuart E. McGowan, the film is about a cowboy congres ...

'' (

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...

, November 16, 1939), and introduced it as his theme song for ''

Gene Autry's Melody Ranch ''Gene Autry's Melody Ranch'' is a Western variety radio show in the United States. A 15-minute pilot show aired on December 31, 1939. The program ran from January 7, 1940 to August 1, 1943, and from September 23, 1945 to May 16, 1956.French, Jack ...

'', which premiered over the

CBS Radio Network CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

on January 7, 1940, on which the show ran until 1956. The song also became the title song for the Autry film ''

Back in the Saddle "Back in the Saddle" is a song by American hard rock band Aerosmith. It was written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. It is the first track on Aerosmith's hard rock album '' Rocks'' released in 1976. The song was also released as the thir ...

'' (Republic Pictures, March 14, 1941). Gene Autry recorded "Back in the Saddle Again" for the first time on April 18, 1939, in Los Angeles for

American Record Corporation American Record Corporation (ARC), also referred to as American Record Company, American Recording Corporation, or ARC Records, was an American record company. Overview ARC was created in January 1929 by Louis G. Sylvester, president of Scran ...

(ARC), which had been acquired by

Columbia Broadcasting System CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

(CBS) in December 1938, matrix number LA 1865, released on Vocalion 5080.Turner, Stan, "Gene Autry Discography", 1971 LA 1865 also issued on the Conqueror, OKeh, and Columbia labels. Early Vocalion and Conqueror labels say "BACK TO THE SADDLE". Conqueror was a private label for Sears. In the U.K. markets LA 1865 issued on the EMI Regal Zonophone label. Gene Autry later made two additional commercial recordings of the song, both for Columbia Recording Corporation (previously ARC). Matrix number HCO 1707 recorded on February 13, 1946, issued on the Columbia label. Matrix number RHCO 10195 recorded on June 19, 1952, also issued on Columbia. The

is found in the run-out groove area of the record and is often also shown on the record label. The prefix indicates the facility where the recording was made. Often there are several takes for a recording. The matrix number in the run-out area may also include a suffix to identify the take used for the issue. In addition to being used as the theme for Autry's radio program ''

'', "Back in the Saddle Again" was also used for ''

The Gene Autry Show ''The Gene Autry Show'' is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum. Overview Series star Gene Autry had alr ...

'' on television as well as for personal appearances. In 1971, the comedy group

Firesign Theatre The Firesign Theatre (also known as the Firesigns) was an American surreal comedy troupe who first appeared on November 17, 1966, in a live performance on the Los Angeles radio program ''Radio Free Oz'' on station KPFK FM. They continued app ...

wrote lyrics to the parody song "Back From the Shadows Again" for their album ''

I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus ''I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus'' is the fourth comedy album made by the Firesign Theatre for Columbia Records, released in August 1971 on standard stereo vinyl LP, and Quadraphonic LP and 8-track tape. It was nominated for a Hugo Award f ...

''. The song was sung by three

computer-generated hologram Computer-generated holography (CGH) is the method of digitally generating holographic interference patterns. A holographic image can be generated e.g. by digitally computing a holographic interference pattern and printing it onto a mask or film for ...

characters when they appeared. The group reused the parody title in 1993 for their 25th anniversary reunion concert tour and its live recording album. The 1993 film ''

Sleepless in Seattle ''Sleepless in Seattle'' is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Nora Ephron, from a screenplay she wrote with David S. Ward and Jeff Arch. Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the film follows a journalist (Ryan) who, despite be ...

'' included "Back in the Saddle Again" as one of "a number of standards" heard in its soundtrack.

Honors

*Autry's 1939 recording of "Back in the Saddle Again" became his second

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

. *In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, the song was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

. *In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, a group of voters selected by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

ranked "Back in the Saddle Again" the 98th best song of the

Twentieth Century The 20th (twentieth) century began on January 1, 1901 (1901, MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 (2000, MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu, Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and ...

. *In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Slim Whitman Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr. (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013), known as Slim Whitman, was an American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto. He claimed he had sold in excess of ...

released the track on his ''Twilight on the Trail'' album.

Discography

78rpm commercial phonograph recordings and issues of "Back in the Saddle Again"

Sources

External links

Gene Autry singing "Back in the Saddle Again" in a clip from the film ''Back in the Saddle'' from Youtube.com
{{authority control Songs about cowboys and cowgirls Western music (North America) 1939 songs 1939 singles Gene Autry songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Songs written by Gene Autry Songs written by Ray Whitley (songwriter)