THE HIT HAMMER: Johnny Preston's "Running Bear"

Johnny Preston's "Running Bear"

Johnny Preston - "Running Bear"

Hit Number 1: January 18, 1960

Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks

Apparently one of the cool things to do back in the late 50s and early 60s was to kill off characters in songs. We've already seen this with "Tom Dooley", "Stagger Lee", "The Three Bells", "Mack the Knife", and yesterday with "El Paso". (I guess you can make the argument for "The Battle of New Orleans" too, but that's a stretch) But "Running Bear" is where it starts to get kind of absurd. The song is about two Indians, a young brave and a maid, whose tribes hate each other, but they live across the river from each other. They keep flirting with each other by blowing kisses and such until finally Running Bear jumps into the river to meet Little White Dove, the maid. She jumps in as well, and the two meet in the middle of the river, kiss, and then get swept down by the current and drown.

Johnny Preston got his start singing in high school contests throughout the state of Texas. He had formed a rock and roll band called "The Shades" who would perform at clubs, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) discovered Preston at one of those gigs at the clubs. Richardson, who had written the song, is who offered this song to Preston, and they recorded the song together in Houston in 1958. (The chants you can hear in the background are from Richardson and country legend George Jones) The record was released a year after Richardson died in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

The way the song is orchestrated is kind of neat, as I really do like the chants in the song, and it is a story that is interesting to follow, and easy to follow. Aside from those things, the song is a bit bland though, and doesn't possess much that makes it anything memorable. However, the song would be better if not for the ending. I already told you guys how the two protagonists in the song die by drowning in the river that separated them, but the thing that kind of boggles my mind is the lyric "Now they'll always be together in their happy hunting ground" like it was a happy ending. It doesn't seem that happy to me!

"Running Bear" has some potential to be a better song. But there really are some flaws that come with it, that are kind of too much for me. It definitely could have been worse, but man, it really could have been much better too.

GRADE: 5/10