Jump to content

Anyone knows the origins of these two early songs?


The Lost Folio

Recommended Posts

A 1964 advertisement for sheet music includes the first line of music of two rare and early Johnny Williams songs, with the mention "Complete Copies at Your Music Dealers." Sadly, none of the two songs show up in any archives that I know, as if they were not actually published, or had a very, very limited print.

 

The first song "Tomorrow" is from the series Wagon Train, but the source of the second song "The Way of a Wand'rer" is a mystery! It was entered for copyright on 15 Nov 1962 and it is advertised as a publication from Hawaii Music Company, possibly connecting it with Diamond Head... Could it be a discarded song? Here are the two melodies. Anyone knows what happened to these songs?

image.png

 

image.png

 

image.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As you say, "Tomorrow" is from WAGON TRAIN (one out of two songs Williams wrote for "The Jenny Tannen Story", the other being "Golden West").

 

We've talked about the "The Way of the Wanderer" before, but right now I can't remember in relation to what. If it was a TV series or film (something in the back of my head says either GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATRE or THE TALES OF WELLS FARGO, but I could be mistaken -- DIAMOND HEAD sounds like a good bet too, given the timestamp and label). I've been unable to find video or audio of this song.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Tomorrow" was recorded as part of the Wagon Train LP that came out in 1958. 

(http://www.jw-collection.de/early/wagon.htm)

 

This site lists "The Way of the Wand'rer" as being used on Animal House (though nothing shows up on IMDB's soundrack page from that movie)

http://www.svenskfilmdatabas.se/en/item/?type=film&itemid=5115#soundtrack-listing

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ANIMAL HOUSE, really? That's bizarre. Guess I need to see ANIMAL HOUSE again to see if I can hear it.

 

I wonder what it was originally composed for, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's either a error on the listing, or then shows up briefly on some television playing an old show... I'll try to watch Animal House one of this days, though honestly, I'm not on the right mood for that one right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll watch it again too, when opportunity allows. Haven't seen it in 25 years, I think. The film takes place in 1962, so the date makes sense if it's an old TV show in the background.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually watched ANIMAL HOUSE again tonight. It was far worse than I remembered, I'm sorry to say (not to mention hopelessly outdated and un-PC with contemporary eyes), but there's no shortage of ideas, that's for sure.

 

There was no TV playing in the background, and there's a LOT of source music in it, but I feel fairly confident that it's the music that plays as the Tim Matheson character seduces the dean's wife. There are no lyrics, though, it appears to be an instrumental version. But it's the only source cue in the film that has an exotica/Hawaiian flavour, and it sounds like Williams, so it's probably it. Must be an unused cue/song from DIAMOND HEAD that is not on the soundtrack (would have loved to have the recording they used, whatever it was). Can be heard here from 0:39:

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks @Thor for watching it for us! But I'm not convinced: this clip from Animal House does not match the published melody. I don't deny a forgotten 1962 song could show up in a 1978 movie - let's believe the soundtrack listing from the database - but it's really surprising. And even if it ends up in Animal House, it does not explain the song's mysterious sources...

 

I'm also not so sure about the Diamond Head connection anymore. The title song was published by Columbia Pictures Music Corporation, not by Hawaii Music Company.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Might not be it. It was just the most likely candidate, I think. Another candidate is the piano music that is played in one of the early scenes. I can't read notes, so difficult for me to compare. A third candidate is a song that one of the frat guys sings in the staircase, on a guitar, but the lyrics don't match what's in the first post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, The Lost Folio said:

I'm also not so sure about the Diamond Head connection anymore. The title song was published by Columbia Pictures Music Corporation, not by Hawaii Music Company.

 

Could also be a song Williams wrote independently of films and TV shows, for album purposes, like "Aunt Orsavella", "Hello", "Augie", "Double Walk", "Tuesday's Theme" (well, sorta independent) and so on.

 

In terms of television, there are several 1962 entries to choose from -- GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATRE, TALES OF WELLS FARGO (both of these, I mentioned earlier), CHECKMATE, ALCOA PREMIERE THEATRE....

 

I have this strange notion it might be a 'cowboy' song from TALES OF WELLS FARGO (if it's not from DIAMOND HEAD), but I need to dig out the few episodes I have to double-check. I'll add the song to the Williams song thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, pixie_twinkle said:

Blimey, did the person who did the typesetting not know how to beam 8th notes? :o

 

This is a common way of writing 8th notes in vocal music: 8th notes are detached when they set different syllables.

 

4 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Could also be a song Williams wrote independently of films and TV shows, for album purposes, like "Aunt Orsavella", "Hello", "Augie", "Double Walk", "Tuesday's Theme" (well, sorta independent) and so on.

 

In terms of television, there are several 1962 entries to choose from -- GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATRE, TALES OF WELLS FARGO (both of these, I mentioned earlier), CHECKMATE, ALCOA PREMIERE THEATRE....

 

I have this strange notion it might be a 'cowboy' song from TALES OF WELLS FARGO (if it's not from DIAMOND HEAD), but I need to dig out the few episodes I have to double-check. I'll add the song to the Williams song thread.

 

So many possibilities!! I'll try to watch Animal House soon to check if any of the music matches the "published" melody. But then, unless we watch a bunch of 1962 TV, we might not find out until the sheet music shows up in some archive...

 

It's interesting that, apart from "America... the Dream Goes On", none of the songs you listed as "Other" in your thread were recorded at the time of their composition. I demand a list of Williams' failed projects!! 🤓

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, The Lost Folio said:

It's interesting that, apart from "America... the Dream Goes On", none of the songs you listed as "Other" in your thread were recorded at the time of their composition. I demand a list of Williams' failed projects!! 🤓

 

That's a good point. Even THOMAS AND THE KING was recorded for album several years later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

The theme fragment scanned above can be found at the bottom of the back page of the "MARNIE" sheet music (Yes, Bernard Herrmann wrote a song for Marnie) (which was also published by Hawaii Music), with Lyrics by Peter Jayson and Gloria Shayne.  Whether he WANTED his music to be used for a song can be debated.  So the possible Hawaii Music-Diamond Head association, while tempting, may not be there. 

 

I found this copyright notation online :


The Way of a Wand'rer.  (w Jerry Gladstone, m Johnny Williams)
Type of Work:  EU0000745285 / 1962-11-15
Musical Work:  RE0000497558 / 1990-11-21
Copyright Claimant:  Revue Studios (PWH)  

 

Since the Copyright Claimant is Revue Studios, I suspect that the song may have been written either for "Wide Country" or "Alcoa Premiere" (both Revue shows), on which Johnny Williams was working at the time.  WIDE COUNTRY (1962-1963)  (would be my first pick, as it was the story of the travels of a "rodeo bum" out west.  Now, if this supposition is actually true, until someone can watch the end credits of all of the episodes to see the location of this credit, the place of the song still remains to be exactly located.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ron! Thanks for chiming in.

 

Actually, Williams didn't write any original music for WIDE COUNTRY, AFAIK. The pilot was the episode "Second Chance" from ALCOA (and hence an ALCOA spin-off, really). His "Second Chance" main theme was used as the show's theme, and Morton Stevens apparently rescored the pilot for the series. There are no mention of a song in the end credits.

 

It could be from other ALCOA episodes, but again - I've seen and heard 20-something episodes from this show (about half of Williams' output), but don't remember any songs or themes that could qualify. Could be from one of the episodes I haven't been able to find, though, but the date (November 15) suggests that it's one of the episodes I have seen, and none qualifies off the top of my head. 

 

The mystery continues. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found a used, reasonably priced DVD set (Released 2011) of the complete WIDE COUNTRY (28 episodes).  It's ordered.  I plan to scan all of the End Credits first, rather than watch all 28 hours of individual episodes.  If there is no song credit in any of the End Credits, I'll assume that either the song was uncredited or was from another Revue Studios effort.  What are the odds that the song WOULD be in an episode, a copyright filed by Revue Studios, but then the song NOT be listed in the End Credits?  Unlikely, I think, but not impossible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would be very surprised if you found anything about this in the WIDE COUNTRY set, as all evidence suggests Williams only wrote the theme (which wasn't even for the series, but for an episode of ALCOA). But by all means, let us know what you find, Ron!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Smeltington said:

Every time words are written to a John Williams tune, it reminds you that words should not be written to a John Williams tune.

 

Ha, ha....that's a good point. He has been rather unlucky in that department, hasn't he, even when working with legendary lyricists. The lyrics are often sily or maudlin or a combination of the two. In that respect, Williams' own lyrics to the ROSEWOOD songs are actually among the better ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I've had the time to scan the Pilot Episode and all 28 WIDE COUNTRY series episodes (at 5x) to watch for anybody singing a song and look for any song credits at the end.

There is NO use of "The Way of a Wand'rer" to be found.  Only two songs were sung: "The Wabash Cannonball" and "Wait for the Wagon," with no mention of either in the end credits.  There was even a single episode where someone "forgot" to put the "Theme by Johnny Williams" in the end credits!  So this song's use (or non-use) remains undiscovered, lost in the output of Revue Studios.  As far as I can tell, there is no way to view Alcoa Premiere episodes, except for a few on YouTube.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.