Vaughn Monroe Names His Favorite Songs

Leather-lunged vocalist and bandleader Vaughn Monroe was popular in the 1940s and into the 50s, starting with "Racing with the Moon" on through "Riders in the Sky."

In early 1950, RCA Victor was looking to plug his latest opus, an atmospheric early exotica number, "Bamboo." So it had him record a four-minute promo record called "My Seven Favorite Songs." The seventh turned out to be "Bamboo," unsurprisingly. For the other six, Monroe chose the following:

• "Hobo, You Can't Ride This Train" - Louis Armstrong
• "Marie" - Tommy Dorsey, Jack Leonard, vocal
• "Don't Be That Way" - Benny Goodman
• "Moonlight Serenade" - Glenn Miller
• "Bouquet of Roses" - Eddy Arnold
• "Prisoner of Love" - Perry Como

Cash Box plugs "Bamboo"

Not coincidentally, all the selections were issued by RCA or a predecessor. Vaughn's presentation is smoothly professional, like his singing.

I've included the B-side of the record, "A Little Golden Cross," a period sentimental ballad. It's well performed; better than "Bamboo," which has a lumpy arrangement.

Also in 1950, Republic Pictures, apparently having run out of singing cowboys, cast Monroe as the lead in Singing Guns. The big tune in this production was "Mule Train," which actually had been released by Vaughn and others the year before. Monroe's release went clippity-clopping along, but Frankie Laine had the biggest hit on the song, his cries of "Hee-yah!" being more convincing. I've included the Monroe version in the download.

Even though "Mule Train" had been written and first recorded as far back as 1947, it was nominated for the 1950 Academy Award for Best Original Song. "Mona Lisa" won.

The RCA promo record comes to us via Internet Archive.