"New Spanish Two Step" is a
Western swing
Western swing, country jazz or smooth country is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which att ...
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object ...
based on a traditional fiddle tune, "Spanish Two Step".
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
James Robert "Bob" Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although Spade Co ...
recorded the latter on September 23, 1935, and released it on
Vocalion
Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the Aeolian Company, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924.
History
The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pian ...
03230 in 1936. Ten years later, Wills and
Tommy Duncan
Thomas Elmer Duncan (January 11, 1911 – July 25, 1967), was an American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys. He recorded and toured with bandleader Bob Wills on and ...
added lyrics and recorded it again on April 25, 1945, releasing it on
Columbia 36966 in April 1946 as "New Spanish Two Step". It stayed on the charts for 23 weeks, reaching number one on the Folk-Jukebox chart for 16 weeks.
[Whitburn, ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits'', p. 392.] Both versions were one of the band's signature songs.
Wills and his vocalist,
Tommy Duncan
Thomas Elmer Duncan (January 11, 1911 – July 25, 1967), was an American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys. He recorded and toured with bandleader Bob Wills on and ...
, added lyrics to reflect the title:
The "b" side, "
Roly Poly
Roly poly or Roly Poly may refer to:
* An isopod crustacean of the family Armadillidiidae, also known as a pill bug
* A pill millipede (unrelated to the pill bug)
*''Syzygium alliiligneum'', a plant from Queensland, Australia
* Roly-poly toy, a to ...
", was also a big hit, reaching number three.
See also
*
Billboard Most-Played Folk Records of 1946
The ''Billboard'' Most-Played Folk Records of 1946 is a year-end chart compiled ''Billboard'' magazine ranking the year's top folk records based on the number of times the record was played on the nation's juke boxes. In 1946, country music records ...
References
Bibliography
*McWhorter, Frankie. ''Cowboy Fiddler in Bob Wills' Band''. University of North Texas Press, 1997.
Western swing songs
1946 songs
Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles of the year
Songs written by Bob Wills
Songs written by Tommy Duncan
{{1940s-country-song-stub