Take Me Back to Tulsa
Encyclopedia
"Take Me Back To Tulsa" is a Western swing standard song. Bob Wills
and Tommy Duncan
added words to one of Bob Wills old fiddle tunes in 1940. The song takes its name from the chorus:
The song is a series of unrelated, mostly nonsense, rhyming couplets, i.e.:
Modern covers of the song, in order to avoid racial offense, tend to replace above line with:
When Wills was asked about the lines, he said they were just nonsense lyrics that he learned as a youth.
Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys recorded "Take Me Back To Tulsa" in 1941 (OKeh 6101) and it became one of their larger hits. When played at Cain's Ballroom
in Tulsa, it often included the lines:
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys performed the song in his 1940 movie Take Me Back to Oklahoma. Spade Cooley
's Western Dance Gang also performed it in their 1944 short movie titled for the song, Take Me Back to Tulsa.
The song has been recorded by many other artists over the years.
is sometime credited with writing "Take Me Back To Tulsa", perhaps due to his musically similar hit song "Pistol Packin' Mama
".
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
and Tommy Duncan
Tommy Duncan
Thomas Elmer Duncan , better known as Tommy Duncan, was a pioneering American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys...
added words to one of Bob Wills old fiddle tunes in 1940. The song takes its name from the chorus:
- Take me back to Tulsa, I'm too young to marry.
- Take me back to Tulsa, I'm too young to marry.
The song is a series of unrelated, mostly nonsense, rhyming couplets, i.e.:
- Little bee sucks the blossom, big bee gets the honey.
- Darkie picks the cotton, white man gets the money.
Modern covers of the song, in order to avoid racial offense, tend to replace above line with:
- Poor boy picks the cotton, Rich man gets the money.
When Wills was asked about the lines, he said they were just nonsense lyrics that he learned as a youth.
Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys recorded "Take Me Back To Tulsa" in 1941 (OKeh 6101) and it became one of their larger hits. When played at Cain's Ballroom
Cain's Ballroom
Cain's Ballroom is a historic music venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, built in 1924 to serve as a garage for one of Tulsa's founders, Tate Brady. Madison W. "Daddy" Cain purchased the building in 1930 and named it , where he charged 10¢ for dance lessons. The academy was the site of the Texas Playboys'...
in Tulsa, it often included the lines:
- Would I like to go to Tulsa? Boy I sure would.
- Well, let me off at Archer, and I'll walk down to Greenwood.
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys performed the song in his 1940 movie Take Me Back to Oklahoma. Spade Cooley
Spade Cooley
Donnell Clyde Cooley , better known as Spade Cooley, was an American Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality...
's Western Dance Gang also performed it in their 1944 short movie titled for the song, Take Me Back to Tulsa.
The song has been recorded by many other artists over the years.
Errata
Al DexterAl Dexter
Al Dexter was an American country musician and songwriter. He is best known for "Pistol Packin' Mama," a 1944 hit that was one of the most popular recordings of the World War II years and later became a hit again with a cover by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters.-Biography:Born Clarence Albert...
is sometime credited with writing "Take Me Back To Tulsa", perhaps due to his musically similar hit song "Pistol Packin' Mama
Pistol Packin' Mama
"Pistol Packin' Mama" is a 1943 song composed by Al Dexter. The song is notable in that it was the first number one on the Juke Box Folk Records chart, which would later be known as the Hot Country Songs chart...
".