"Western Union" is a 1967 song by the American rock band

the Five Americans Five Americans was a 1960s American rock band, most famous for their song, "Western Union", which reached number five in the U.S. '' Billboard'' chart and was their only single to chart in the Top 20. In Canada, they had three in the Top 20. ...

. The single peaked at number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in April 1967. It also reached number 7 on the ''Cash Box'' Top 100 Singles chart that same month.

Origins

In a March 1967 interview that appeared in Michael Oberman's "Top Tunes" column in the ''Evening Star'' newspaper (Washington, D.C.), Norman Ezell, guitarist for the group, explained how they came up with "Western Union." "

Mike Rabon Michael Lee Rabon (April 16, 1943 – February 11, 2022) was an American musician. He was the lead guitarist and lead singer of the 1960s hit group The Five Americans, and was co-writer of the group's hits including "Western Union" and "I Se ...

, our lead guitar player, was just fooling around with his guitar when he came up with a unique sound," Norman said. "It sort of reminded us of a telegraph key. That's when we decided to write 'Western Union.'" The song tells of a

Dear John letter A Dear John letter is a letter written to a man by his wife or romantic partner to inform him that their relationship is over, usually because his partner has found another lover. The man is often a member of the military stationed overseas, alth ...

being communicated by telegram, a service of

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...

. The lyrics “Western Union man, bad news in his hand” were remindful of

death notification A death notification is the delivery of the news of a death to another person. It describes the moment a person receives the news of someone's death. There are many roles that contribute to the death notification process. The ''notifier'' is the ...

telegrams hand-delivered to the families of soldiers killed in war, still in use at the time of this song's release.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

In 1967, The Strangers' recording reached number 30 in Australia.

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

included it on their 1967 album ''Super Psychedelics''.

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...

released a single of "Western Union" on

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherho ...

in 1967. French-canadian band Le Spectre released a French cover of the song in 1967 on the Disques Monde label.

In popular culture

DTV set the song to ''

Pigs Is Pigs "Pigs Is Pigs" is a story by American writer Ellis Parker Butler. First published as a short story in '' American Illustrated Magazine'' in September 1905, "Pigs Is Pigs" went on to dozens of printings as a book and in anthologies over the next ...

''. The song is also included in the 2001 film ''

Vanilla Sky ''Vanilla Sky'' is a 2001 American science fiction thriller film directed, written, and co-produced by Cameron Crowe. It is an English-language remake of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film '' Open Your Eyes'', which was written by Amenábar ...

.''

References

{{Reflist 1967 songs 1967 singles The Searchers (band) songs