RUNNING BEAR
“Running Bear” is a song written by J. P. Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by Richardson and George Jones and the session’s producer Bill Hall, who provided the “Indian chanting” of “uga-uga” during the three verses, as well as the “Indian war cries” at the start and end of the record. It was No. 1 for three weeks in January 1960 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song also reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1960. Coincidentally, “Running Bear” was immediately preceded in the Hot 100 No. 1 position by Marty Robbins’ “El Paso”, another song in which the protagonist dies. Billboard ranked “Running Bear” as the No. 4 song of 1960. (More from Wikipedia)
J. P. Richardson, Jr. offered one of his songs, “Running Bear” to another friend, Johnny Preston after hearing him perform at a local club. The song concerns a doomed romance between an Indian brave named Running Bear and an Indian maid named White Dove, who each come from warring tribes, much like the story of Romeo and Juliet. The song was recorded in 1958 and features the Big Bopper, George Jones and Bill Hall performing Indian chanting and Indian war cries. In January 1960, the song reached the top of the singles charts in both the U.S. and the U.K.
(June 2013/1)
