Making list of songs Duke is singing and in which movies was started in Last western you watched.

The only one remembered was Redwing sung by Duke in War of the wildcats (In old Oklahoma) and Duke & Lee Marvin in the Comancheros

I add bit of My Darling Clementine in Pittsburgh with Randolph Scott

I know there are more

Hi Etsija

Titwillow - The Shootist
Streets of Lorado - Cahill
Random unknown songs - Riders of Destiny/Man from Utah
Unknown song - Rooster Cogburn

:agent:

Not sure, but I don't THINK it was him singing songs as Singin' Sandy (forgot which of his earlier Westerns that was in)

Not sure, but I don't THINK it was him singing songs as Singin' Sandy (forgot which of his earlier Westerns that was in)


Definitely not. His character was portrayed singing on horseback to open "Rider's of Destiny" but there was no way that was Wayne's actual voice.

Well the answer is you are both right and you are both wrong.

I certain versions of Riders of Destiny/Man from Utah its John Waynes voice and in others it is dubbed, the version I have on VCR has Dukes voice dubbed and its awful.

:agent:

As much as I love his movies, would you really want to hear him sing? Now if we were tossing a few back, I'd probably sing with him.

I have noticed the differences in the singing voice of John Wayne in the Singin Sandy movies but I think I remember seeing or reading somewhere that they were all sung by somebody else off camera.

As gt12pak says I would prefer to watch his movies than hear him sing although he did a number of renditions at charity events.


Mike

Hi all,

Thank god Duke's singing was so bad,
otherwise he would have rode off into
the sunset as Singin Sandy, never to
be heard from again.

Emmanuel.

Yes, Emmanuel there but good luck he missed that chance.

Gene Autry has that dubious honour of "King of the singing Cowboys"


Mike

In the occasions Duke's singing in movies I get the impression that he's deliberately singing badly, because it's funny and maybe manly too, and could do much better job if he wanted

Definitely not. His character was portrayed singing on horseback to open "Rider's of Destiny" but there was no way that was Wayne's actual voice.


Hi GSP, Robbie, thank both of you for the info. I too more favor him as an actor than a singer -- I think he took the best career path ;-)

There are some who say that John Wayne had a beautiful baritone singing voice, and there are those who might argue with them. But Duke would, when the occasion called for it, let loose in song. Once, during a celebrity auction, where participants bid to purchase the talents and time of various celebrities in order to benefit charity, an anonymous bidder but up one thousand dollars to hear John Wayne sing The Shadow of Your Smile. Duke tried in vain to avoid the “honor,” but after the bidding rose to five thousand dollars, he took the stage and warbled out the familiar tune.
In 1933, the “Singing Cowboy” was born with the Lone Star film, Riders of Destiny, wherein Wayne portrayed undercover agent “Singing Sandy Saunders”, the very first of Hollywood’s singing cowboys. There was one problem, however, with Wayne’s singing abilities. He apparently did not have any. Therefore his singing voice had to be dubbed in by an off screen performer.
Over the years, many alleged experts have claimed that Wayne’s voice was dubbed by either early western singer Smith Ballew or by Glenn Strange (who was best known as Sam the bartender on television’s Gunsmoke).
However, according to those who were there on the sets of those early Wayne westerns, most notably producer, Paul Malvern; director, Robert North Bradbury; his son, early western star Bob Steele; and screen writer Lindsley Parsons; Smith Ballew never dubbed John Wayne’s singing voice. In fact, Ballew himself confirmed that he had never dubbed Wayne’s singing.
Both Bob Steele, his father, Robert North Bradbury and Lindsley Parsons, Sr. have all stated that it was Bradbury’s other son, Bill Bradbury, who provided the singing for John Wayne in his earliest singing roles.
When one listens to Wayne sing in those early films, it is easy to hear at least two different voices in these films. In some films the voice is of a higher pitch and in some a lower pitch. Bill Bradbury sang with a higher tenor, and therefore could not have dubbed with the lower voice. Did Glenn Strange provide that lower voice? Although Strange did appear in several of Wayne’s early westerns, the answer is no. During one of Wayne’s many interviews, he was asked who had provided his voice in the later Lone Star films. His answer was, “Pappy Kirk (actor-singer Jack Kirk) dubbed me in a lot of the latter Lone Star and Republic westerns.”
Wayne hated the idea of being billed as a singing cowboy, and eventually went to producer Nat Levine and told him that he could no longer pretend to be singing. It bothered him when he went on publicity tours and fans would ask him to sing, and he would have to make up some story to avoid exposing the fact that someone had to dub his voice. Although Levine was reluctant to lose his new found “singing cowboy” gimmick, he did listen to Wayne’s solution to this dilemma. Wayne knew of a radio cowboy singer that Levine could use to make his singing cowboy westerns. Levine listened to the young singer and was impressed. He brought him to Hollywood, signed him to a contract, and a legend was born. That young fairly unknown singing cowboy who later became a Hollywood legend was none other than Gene Autry.
Some years later, Wayne recalled with some humor his early role as Singing Sandy, when he related on the Dean Martin Show, “During the early days I wasn’t known just as a fighter and a gunslinger. I was once known as Singing Sandy. It was back in the 30’s and I was playing a cowboy, and the director thought it might be a good idea if every time I got mad I’d start to hum. Well it caught on and the next picture I did four songs and played a guitar. Well, I’ll have to confess, there was three of us. There was me, there was the fellow that dubbed my voice, and there was the fellow playing the guitar. I was really a trio!”
Those of us today don’t have to put up thousands of dollars to hear Duke sing, as some of his films contain both the apparent (dubbed by others) and actual singing voice of John Wayne. The films which featured a singing John Wayne are as follows:

-“Riders of Destiny” (1933) = “The Outlaw’s Fate (The Cowboy’s Song of the Dead),” = (dubbed by Bill Bradbury, son of the film’s producer/director, Robert N. Bradbury)

-“Man From Utah” (1934) = “Blow Desert Wind (Song of the Wild)”, (dubbed by Bill Bradbury)

-“Westward, Ho!” (1935) = “The Girl I Loved Long Ago” (dubbed by Jack Kirk who appeared in the film)

- “Lawless Range” (1935) = “The Outlaw’s Fate (The Cowboy’s Song of the Dead)”, and, “On the Banks of the Sunny San Juan” = (dubbed by Jack Kirk who appeared in the film)

-“Pittsburgh” (1942) = “(Darling) Clementine” (sung by Wayne himself)

-“In Old Oklahoma” (1943) = “Redwing” (sung by Wayne himself)

-“Three Godfathers” (1948) = “Cowboy’s Lament” (“Streets of Laredo”) (sung by Wayne himself)

-“The Fighting Kentuckian” (1949) = “600 Miles More To Go” (sung by Wayne himself in a duet with Oliver Hardy!)

-“Roy Rogers & Dale Evans” (1950’s) = During the 1950’s, John Wayne appeared in a short musical film with Roy and Dale, where Wayne was featured singing around the campfire

-“The Quiet Man” (1952) = “The Wild Colonial Boy” (sung by Wayne himself in a duet with Victor McLaglan)

-“The Commancheros” (1961) = “Redwing” (sung by Wayne himself)

-“Donovan’s Reef” (1963) = “The Monkeys Have No Tails In Zamboanga”, and, “Frere Jacques” (sung by Wayne himself)

- 1963, Unknown Newsreel : SHARE benefit party held at the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood, features various celebrities performing onstage, including John Wayne with James Garner, Jack Lemmon, Tony Franciosa, Vince Edwards, and Paul Newman. Wayne is singing.



-“Big Jake” (1971) = “The Dirty Cow” song (sung in Spanish, this is only an approximation of the songs title, as this is what Wayne is singing about)

-“Cahill, U.S. Marshall” (1973) = “Cowboy’s Lament” (“Streets of Laredo”) (sung by Wayne himself)

- “Rooster Cogburn” (1975) = “I Finded Her!” (sung by Wayne while his character is in a state of intoxication)

-“The Shootist” (1976) = “Titwillow” (sung by Wayne himself)

Hi Colorado Bob

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I had forgotten about one or two of those.


Best


Mike

Hi Colorado, glad to see you here (were always missing each other it seems) and thanks for that excellent posting.

Great info Colorado and it just so happens The Quiet Man comes on tonight. I'll have to tune in and check out that scene again.

Howdy Mike & Carl! And Howdy to gt12pak! It's good to be back. I just wish I could devote more time to the board. You folks are like my John Wayne family, and when I'm gone for awhile I do start to get homesick.
Best Always,
Colorado Bob

Howdy Mike & Carl! And Howdy to gt12pak! It's good to be back. I just wish I could devote more time to the board. You folks are like my John Wayne family, and when I'm gone for awhile I do start to get homesick.
Best Always,
Colorado Bob

Well, I still have your contact info, so i guess I should pester you from time-to-time. :beer:

One more to the list: Flame of the Barbary Coast, first with the whole crowd after winning in game and second time with one of his cowboys, something about my heart which is yours to lose or keep

Carl, it's always a pleasure to talk to you, so feel free to "pester" me anytime. Thanks etsija, I don't know why I didn't include Flame of the Barbary Coast. I even have a photo of Duke and the crowd singing in that scene. I'm gonna try to attach it here. Let's see if I can do that.
Best Always,
Colorado Bob

It's good to be back. I just wish I could devote more time to the board. You folks are like my John Wayne family, and when I'm gone for awhile I do start to get homesick.
Bob, that was an awesome and comprehensive post regarding John Wayne's singing "career"! Thanks!

You sure feel like family to us, and it's great to see you again!

Chester :newyear: and the Mrs. :angel1:

Hi

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this story, but I seemed to remember Duke attending a charity auction and someone shouted out that he would give $150,000 if duke would sing a certain song, and up came John aynes voice saying I'll give £200,000 not to.

He was also voted one of the ten worst singing actors in Hollywood along with Glenn Ford and I can't remember the others.


Regards

Arthur

Carl, it's always a pleasure to talk to you, so feel free to "pester" me anytime. Thanks etsija, I don't know why I didn't include Flame of the Barbary Coast. I even have a photo of Duke and the crowd singing in that scene. I'm gonna try to attach it here. Let's see if I can do that.
Best Always,
Colorado Bob

Hi Bob, I think I will pester ya--probably the best day for me till next week, will be sometime on Sunday afternoon? ;-)

Howdy Arthur,
If I remember right, that was a Laugh-In poll, and Ernest Borgnine, Martin Milner, and Kent McCord were also on that list.

Howdy Carl,
I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Best Always,
Bob

In the late 1940s when John Ford was doing the Great Film Rio Grande at Moab, Utah, and after a Hard Day of Filming everyone would meet at a Big Camp Fire and Ford would have the Stars do their thing with a Few Good Drinks !
:drinks_wine:

Maureen O'Hara would Sing John Ford's Favorite Irish Songs and Duke would Sing Along Also, and everone thought He had a Very Nice Voice.
:beer:

Maureen said that She Loved to Hear Duke Sing, and They would Sing all of John Ford's Favorite Irish Songs Before Everyone went to bed !
:sleep_1:

Chilibill
:cowboy:

Maureen said that She Loved to Hear Duke Sing, and They would Sing all of John Ford's Favorite Irish Songs Before Everyone went to bed !
:sleep_1:Chilibill:cowboy:


Now thats a DVD I think we all would love to own ! ! !

Chester :newyear:

Howdy Arthur,
If I remember right, that was a Laugh-In poll, and Ernest Borgnine, Martin Milner, and Kent McCord were also on that list.

Howdy Carl,
I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Best Always,
Bob

Hi Bob, thanks I greatly appreciate that. Also, sorry I could not call Sunday, my telephone was not working I guess due to high winds? Anyway, they had a crew working on a line yesterday. Ill try you either later today or sometime tomorrow.

Another one to hear him sing in is in Arizona. He sings something about some cookies.

Maureen O'Hara remembering the set of Rio Grande: "Ford would always have me to get up and sing Irish songs. He'd have Duke sing too, but for Mr. Ford, Duke always had to sing off-key. Duke could, in fact, sing - he had a surprisingly nice voice - but he always accommodated Mr. Ford with an awful rendition of the song so that Mr. Ford could laugh and make fun of him."

Singin' Sandy anyone?

YtkPYICLEcw

There are some who say that John Wayne had a beautiful baritone singing voice, and there are those who might argue with them. . . .some of his films contain both the apparent (dubbed by others) and actual singing voice of John Wayne. [One of t]he films which featured a singing John Wayne . . . :

-“Three Godfathers” (1948) = “Cowboy’s Lament” (“Streets of Laredo”) (sung by Wayne himself)

-“Cahill, U.S. Marshall” (1973) = “Cowboy’s Lament” (“Streets of Laredo”) (sung by Wayne himself)


Watching 3 Godfathers today, I was impressed by Harry Carey Jr.'s singing voice (you can read my comments in the thread dedicated to the film (http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=1941)), and also a little later in the film, John Wayne's (which eventually blends into an audio "flashback" of Harry Carey Jr.'s character singing).

I see that not only does THIS thread list this particular singing appearance of our man, but Duke sang the same song many years later in another film.

He [John Wayne] was also voted one of the ten worst singing actors in Hollywood . . . .
As far as I'm concerned, Duke had quite a respectable singing voice. Not enough to make a career out of, but quite "listenable" (if that is a word :biggrin:).

Thanks again to Colorado Bob for that wonderful list as a reference, and to all who have contributed more information here as well.

Mrs. C :angel1:

It is very apparent that Duke was not a singer, his career was focused on acting. So, I find it irrelevant that there is concern about his singing. He has said countless times that he couldn't sing, and him singing in movies were only part of ad libing that was required in the screen play. I am sure that Duke could carry a tune, but when he was in Rio Bravo, he did not sing nor did he try. He is not in the same league as Martin and Nelson, or even Brennen.

Cheers :cool:

I thought Duke sang like a man's man,
and there ain't nothing wrong with that!

kevin k
can anyone tell me exactly who dubbed jw voice in the singing years-glenn strange,ballew??riders of destiny the best who dubbed on that one-it kinda sounds like the duke if he could sing-id like to thank the academy for the

In answer to kevin k's question in the Westward Ho! thread,
our member Colorado Bob made a great reply in this thread.