Wheat-dogg's World

After several months hiatus, I resumed digitizing my albums over Christmas break. This one was a logical subject, since I had fond memories of it as a kid. Now, I wonder why I liked it so much.

Still in researching this album I found a few interesting tidbits about it — very few.

First of all, I have no idea who “Cactus Jim & the Wranglers” are. Nowhere on the Web is there any other mention of this group other than in relation to this album. One site suggested the group was the same as “Tex Johnson & the Six Shooters,” which recorded a similar album of tunes about the same time. The two albums were produced by the same company (Synthetic Plastics Co.), so it’s likely the two groups were the same set of studio musicians pressed into service for this project.

I found out more about the record company than the group. It seems the Synthetic Plastics Co., had produced a variety of injected plastic objects beginning in the 1920s. Brothers Donald and Louis Kasen realized they could use the same manufacturing process to press record albums, so beginning in the 1940s they produced a series of children’s albums under the Peter Pan label.

The boomer generation created a huge demand for the cheaply produced records, so SPC/Peter Pan quickly became the nation’s largest manufacturer of children’s records.The Kasens introduced several new labels, including Diplomat. (Diplomat Records more recently is the label created by rapper Cam’ron and has no relation to SPC.)

Judging from the limited information I have, Diplomat issued one album by Cactus Jim & the Wranglers, “Western Christmas,” and one by Tex Johnson and His Six Shooters, “Songs of the West.” Both are kids’ albums and share some of the same Western songs. Other albums by Tex Johnson, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and “Gunslinger Ballads”, were issued under Pirouette and Promenade, both SPC labels. Again, there seems to be some overlap between the album I have and the Tex Johnson ones.

As musicians, Cactus Jim & the Wranglers were good, but not ready for Top 40. The mixing engineer was not so adept, however. Listening to these tracks now with a more experienced ear, on some cuts the vocals are too loud, or the accordion is too prominent. The gain varies as if the artists are moving away from the mikes (mike?) too much while performing. All the signs of a low-budget, get-it-on-tape-quick recording session.

The tunes are OK. There are some plainly kid-oriented Christmas songs, some more general Christmas-y songs and for no apparent reason (other than to fill out two sides of an LP) a few Western/cowboy songs. Here’s the track listing:

A1. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
A2. When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter
A3. Fum Fum Fum — a Mexican carol, I learned years later
A4. Wait For The Wagon — a song from the 1850s with a Christmas reference
A5. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
A6. Cheyenne — the theme to an old TV western series
B1. A Merry Christmas To You
B2. Pride Of The Prairie Mary — an old song from before 1915
B3. The Night Before Christmas Song — Clement Moore’s poem, set to music
B4. San Antonio
B5. Just As The Sun Went Down — a song about the US Civil War, from 1898 [other reference]
B6. Go Tell It On The Mountain

Of the non-Christmas tunes, the one that has stuck in my head the longest is “Cheyenne,” which for years I thought was some old cowboy song from way back. I could remember the melody even before I played this album again. Turns out it’s the theme to a Disney-produced TV Western by the same name that aired from 1955 to 1959! Whether I or my parents watched it back then, I don’t know. (I was three in 1959.) I figure we must have, or the damn song would not have gotten so firmly stuck in my head.

The lead character, Cheyenne, was a drifter of sorts who wandered the old West helping people out along the way. Here’s the lyrics to the song.

“Theme from Cheyenne” by William Lava, with lyrics by Stanley D. Jones

Move along, Cheyenne the next pasture’s always so green.
Driftin’ on, Cheyenne don’t forget the things you have seen,
And when you settle down where will it be Cheyenne. Cheyenne!

Real Christmas-y, that one.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I converted the songs to mp3′s for nostalgic purposes. I suspect this album will be first to end up on the old eBay auction block. It was great when I was 5. Not so hot when I’m more than 10 times than age.