Beach Boys – "Long Tall Texan" (1964)

I’m a long tall Texan

I wear a ten-gallon hat

People look at me and say,

“Hoo-rah, hoo-rah, is that your hat?”

The first Beach Boys album I ever owned was Beach Boys Concert, which was a live recording of a December 21, 1963 concert in Sacramento:

It included a number of their hit singles – like “Little Deuce Coupe,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” and “I Get Around.”  

It also included several covers of novelty records – like Jan and Dean’s “Little Old Lady from Pasadena,” the Rivingtons’ “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow,” and the faux-country-and-western song, “Long Tall Texan,” which was originally released in 1959 by the Four Flickers.

Click here to listen to the Four Flickers’ recording of “Long Tall Texan.”

    

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“Long Tall Texan” was written by the late Henry Strzelecki, the bass player for the Four Flickers.

Strzelecki eventually became one of the group of Nashville session musicians known as “The Nashville A-Team,” which included such legendary figures as Floyd Cramer (piano), Chet Atkins (guitar), Johnny Gimble  (fiddle), Earl Scruggs (banjo), Boots Randolph (saxophone), and Charlie McCoy (harmonica).  

Henry Strzelecki with Jimmy Dean

The Birmingham, Alabama native played bass on recordings by over two dozen members of the Country Hall of Fame – including Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson.  He was the bass player on Roy Orbison’s iconic “Pretty Woman,” and Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album.

Strzelecki was struck by a car while out for a walk in Nashville, and died on December 30, 2014.  He was 75 years old.

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“Long Tall Texan” is just the sort of goofy song that appealed to me when I was 12 years old.  I remember singing along to the Beach Boys’ cover in a very exaggerated – and no doubt very annoying – manner.  (My parents put up with a lot from me.)

I haven’t heard the record in 50 years, but I’m willing to bet that if you called me right now, I would remember every word.  (Go ahead.  Try me!)

Click here to listen to the Beach Boys’ recording of the Henry Strzelecki song, “Long Tall Texan.”

Click on the link below to buy the recording from Amazon: