"Pistol Packin' Mama" was a "

Hillbilly ''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural area, rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, ...

"- Honky Tonk record released at the height of World War II that became a nationwide sensation, and the first "

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

" song to top the ''Billboard'' popular music chart. It was written by Al Dexter of Troup,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, who recorded it in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

on March 20, 1942, with top session musicians Dick Roberts, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart, who all normally worked for

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

. It was used in the 1943 film '' Pistol Packin' Mama'', starring

Ruth Terry Ruth Mae Terry (born Ruth Mae McMahon, October 21, 1920 – March 11, 2016) was an American singer and actress in film and television from the 1930s to the 1960s. She claimed her stage name came from Walter Winchell, who combined the names ...

and Robert Livingston. 1943 was dominated by a musicians' strike, which since August 1942 had prevented the recording of commercial music by the record companies. As the strike dragged on, the labels began releasing material from their artists' back catalogues, until by mid-1943, that ran out too. Okeh Records released Al Dexter's "Pistol Packin' Mama", backed with " Rosalita", in March. It sold quickly, helped by reports in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine and great popularity in jukeboxes, which had run out of fresh material to play. Although ''Billboard'' did not publish its first Folk-Hillbilly chart until January 8, 1944, "Pistol Packin' Mama" became the first "Hillbilly" record to reach no. 1 on the National Best Selling Retail Records chart, on October 30, 1943, and spent sixteen weeks in the top 10, on its way to selling 3 million copies. It entered the Jukebox chart on July 31, 1943, where it stayed for 28 weeks (the last 14 shared with the

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

version), another unheard of achievement for a "Hillbilly" tune. In ''Billboard''s 1943 Yearbook, released in September, Dexter's "Pistol Packin' Mama" was the only hillbilly record to join Glenn Miller and

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombone, trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-to ...

in the best-selling record list. Crosby, always a major fan of "hillbilly" music, was finally able to record a cover version with the Andrews Sisters on September 27, when his label, Decca, became the first to settle with the union. The single, released on October 21, followed Dexter's to the top, revitalizing popularity and sales into 1944. When the first ''Billboard'' "Most Played Jukebox Folk Records" chart was published, both "Pistol Packin' Mama" versions tied for Number 1, and remained tied for seven straight weeks. The NBC radio network banned Crosby's version because of the line "drinking beer in a cabaret." The lyrics had to be changed to "singing songs in a cabaret" before it could air.

"Pistol Packin' Mama" Chart performance

Al Dexter and His Troopers

Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters

Other recordings

* According to the database o
secondhandsongs.com
"Pistol Packin' Mama" has been recorded by 46 different artists as of July 2021. * The Pied Pipers featuring

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical tr ...

with Paul Weston and his orchestra on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

140, recorded on September 27, 1943. *

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the King ...

performed a "hillbilly rendition" of the song, which drew laughs, during a November 1943 appearance in a show at the Orpheum Theater in

. * Gene Vincent's 1960 version reached No. 15 in the UK charts and featured

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the only B ...

on piano. * Peppi Borza performed a cover in 1964 whilst performing in the group Peppi and the New York Twisters. *The Flamin' Groovies did a cover the song on their 1969 debut album '' Supersnazz''. *

Stompin' Tom Connors Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, Order of Canada, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country music, country and folk music, folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited wi ...

recorded a rendition as the title track for his 1971 album. *Singer/songwriter Hoyt Axton recorded a country version of the song as the title track to his 1982 album. *Québécois singer Oscar Morin recorded a French chanson "Dans le bon vieux temps" using the same tune in the 1950s.

Other uses

*The

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

song " You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", from the musical '' Annie Get Your Gun'', contains the lyric: "A man's love is mighty, he'll even buy a nightie, for a gal who he thinks is fun. But they don't buy pajamas for pistol packin' mamas." *The chorus of the song was used for the 1970s UK television advertising campaign for Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles, with the punning tag line "Pastille Pickin' Mama, pass those pastilles round." *It is also continually referenced in

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

's ''

Goodbye Soldier ''Goodbye Soldier'' is Spike Milligan's sixth volume of autobiography. While he began writing it immediately after finishing Where Have All the Bullets Gone? in 1985, he finished it in a manic two week period in early 1986. World War II ...

'' (1986), which is part of his memoirs of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and just after it. In it he states that as Mussolini did not like jazz, after he was defeated the Italians were getting into jazz, and as this song was popular at the time, this was one of the songs Milligan and his group was often asked to sing. He also states that this is one of the main songs sung by Italian jazz bands (in fact he states that some bands only ever sang this song). *There is also a version of the song on an album titled ''A.P.C. Presents: The Unreleasable Tapes'', with Bryan Adams being credited with the lead vocals.

References

External links

Universal Music Digital Music Library
{{The Andrews Sisters 1942 songs 1943 singles 1944 singles Bing Crosby songs The Andrews Sisters songs Songs written by Al Dexter