2003 APRIL 30 #120
Walter Brennan - Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town
Walter Brennan albums are like weeds. When you think you"ve got them all, another one pops up. Three-time Academy Award winner Walter Brennan is best remembered as good ole Grandpa Amos McCoy on TV"s "The Real McCoys' and for his hit about the good ole dead farmer and his mule "Old Rivers'. After his hit with "Old Rivers' Brennan was escorted back into the studio to record several more albums like "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral', "The Country Heart of Walter Brennan', "A World of Miracles', and several others.
"Ruby, Don"t Take Your Love to Town' is my favorite Brennan song just for when he says "If I could, I"d get my gun and put her in the ground'. Whoa! Grandpa McCoy is packing heat! Pepino better stay outta the way or else Grandpa is gonna make his boomstick go boom. Play the Kenny Rogers version first and then play the Walter Brennan version. And tell me how you can sit there and not pick the Walter Brennan version as your favorite! It makes you smile and feel all bubbly inside!
For more Walter Brennan musical moments search out the cool Rhino compilation "Golden Throats 3: Sweethearts of Rodeo Drive' to hear Brennan doing "Cool Water'. Since I"m a night owl I like to watch those "Time-Life Music' infomercials late at night, imagine how filled with joy I was when they showed video of Brennan doing "Old Rivers'.
- Zeb Navarro (znavarro@cox.net)
Host, "Oldies and Oddities' http://www.geocities.com/oldiesandoddities/
KKSM, San Diego, Ca.
TT-2:16 / 3.1MB / 192kbps 44.1khz
from the LP "Yesterday, When I Was Young' (London,
#577)
