Yesterday, March 18, another Disney Legend passed away. Fess Parker, who made Davy Crockett a household name in the 50s, died at the age of 84 near his award-winning winery in Santa Ynez Valley.
The Davy Crockett theme song, The Ballad of Davy Crockett was written by George Bruns with lyrics by Tom W. Blackburn and was first recorded by Bill Hayes in 1955. The song reached #1 in the charts and landed at #7 for the year! No bad for a TV show theme song!
Shortly after the Hayes version was released, Fess Parker recorded his own version of the song for his album COWBOY AND INDIAN SONGS in 1955. Parker's version reached #6 on the charts and rested at #31 for the year. Parker's version has since pass the original Hayes version in popularity and can be found on many Disney compilation albums, including DISNEY'S GREATEST VOLUME 2
. You can also hear the Fess Parker version playing on a jukebox in Back to the Future.It is with sadness that we say goodbye to Fess Parker. No one will be able to replace him as the King of the Wild Frontier.
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