Johnny Horton –Young Abe Lincoln (Make A Tall, Tall Man)
Counry Singer Johnny Horton singing about who might be the nation’s greatest president.
Johnny Horton had several top ten songs in the late 50’s and early 60’s and was on the verge of becoming one of the top stars of the 60’s when he met with tragedy.
He was born John Gale Horton in Los Angeles in 1925. He was raised in Tyler, Texas. Horton worked in the fishing industry in Alaska and California, and attended Seattle University. He worked for a while as a carpenter, and played basketball at Baylor University. He worked at a local radio station in East Texas and at the Hometown Jamboree in California. He did some recording with little success for the Abbott, Mercury, and Dot labels and picked up the nickname the Singing Fisherman. Horton became a regular on the Louisiana Hayride.
Johnny married Billie Jean Jones, the widow of country music legend Hank Williams. He sang country songs and signed a recording contract with Columbia, where he would achieve his greatest success. Some of his first hits included Honky Tonk Man, I’m A One-Woman Man in 1956, Coming Home in 1957 and All Grown Up in 1958. He topped the country charts in 1959 with When It’s Springtime In Alaska.
Johnny Horton then began to record a series of saga songs that crossed over to the pop charts. He covered Jimmy Driftwood’s The Battle Of New Orleans in 1959. The song topped the country charts and it reached number one on the pop charts, where it remained for a solid six weeks. The song was a tribute to the final battle of the War of 1812. He also recorded Sink The Bismarck in 1960, a song that was suggested by the film of the same title; it went top ten country and pop. Johnny Horton was a star. He sang the title song for the John Wayne movie North To Alaska and it too made the top ten in both charts during the same year.
On November 5, 1960, while North To Alaska was still climbing the charts, Horton was killed in an automobile accident in Milano, Texas following an appearance at the Skyliner in Austin. Following Horton’s death some of his earlier hit songs made the charts once again. Albums of his recordings were compiled and issued in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, and they are still selling.
His biography was published in 1983 under the title Your Singing Fisherman, but it is very hard to find.
Duration : 0:1:58
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I”m from S E Texas …
I”m from S E Texas just as johnny ,Lincoln was a very great leader.
I am a fan of …
I am a fan of Johnny Horton and love his music !
Thanks for sharing this gem!!!
Yes. I can’t get …
Yes. I can’t get over how he ordered The White House band to strike up the song ‘Dixie’, upon hearing of the surrender. ALL he cared about were saving and healing his beloved nation. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan. America has certainly been blessed with some fine leaders. And don’t despair, friends. Another will come along.
Norm
lincoln is a …
lincoln is a murderer!
johnny would make a …
johnny would make a good president, i think.
Lincoln was a great …
Lincoln was a great president! Johnny was a great entertainer.
I think they’re …
I think they’re more that the yanks outlawed incest than they are about slavery.
If Lincoln had …
If Lincoln had lived and been able to serve his full second term, Reconstruction would have gone so much better for the South and the country as a whole.
Instead, the bitter, mean-spirited and vindictive Radical Republicans took over.
So painful was their legacy to the South, that for more than 100 years Democrats held the South firmly.
Unfortunately, the God-crowd pleasing Republicans have hoodwinked the South into voting for them in great numbers.
What does this country need today?
I have loved this …
I have loved this song and Johnny Horton Since I was ten.
All the orders from …
All the orders from Union leaders were to treat the South civilans as well as they could. Which is opposite of how the South treated the slaves when they rebelled. When slaves rebelled, they were tied to post, and set on fire.
you really need to …
you really need to drop the hate and actually research things its happened just as much in the north. If you did your research the union troop did far far worse then what you mention. Like raping children and women. Hanging whole towns and burning down alanta. Look up 80 acres of hell. it was a pow camp in ill. Hope you like your heros sicko. At least i can say President Davis and General Lee were Gentlemen. Definatly compaired to Lincolin and Grant.
Lincoln kicked the …
Lincoln kicked the out of the slave raping scum — and they are still crying about it.
Got news for you dumb – do you know how the Confederacy dealt with those that rebelled against them?
They burned them alive dumb — often times in front of their children. They hung everyone even SUSPECTED of conspiring to rebel against salvery.
Lincoln should have done that to the Confderates — to see how the they liked it.
The CSA did not …
The CSA did not start the war,Lincoln had the plan all set up that the north was pulling out; but they didn’t . Lincoln wanted a war, he was evil in his actions…. you need to study up on your history. because of the lies of that war we are in the mess we’re in today.
Actually, the C.S.A …
Actually, the C.S.A. started the war by firing on Fort Sumter, therefore necessitating the Union to declare war. Lincoln did not start the war, and was willing and able to enter into a diplomatic process. The confederacy never gave itself a chance by choosing war.
Yeah, Lincoln was …
Yeah, Lincoln was still an American killer who wanted empire over state rights. He might have been right, but we’ll never really know, because he never gave the the Confederacy a chance. Puta Madre!
i dont like Ape …
i dont like Ape Lincoln but i like this song.
i personaly love …
i personaly love this