| Visit Our Catalog at SteelGuitarShopper.com |

Post new topic My Window Faces The South
Reply to topic
Author Topic:  My Window Faces The South
MIKEHOLLAND

 

From:
stegenevievemo.usa
Post  Posted 6 Apr 2001 7:42 pm    
Reply with quote

I've been working with Jack Martin former lead player with FIDDLIN FRENCHIE BURKE here in Southern Mo. We do this song 158.49 mph . I've had several people ask who the original artist was on this song. Does anyone out there know who the original artist was on this song?
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Tim Rowley

 

From:
Pinconning, MI, USA
Post  Posted 6 Apr 2001 8:13 pm    
Reply with quote

Hi Mike!

This very topic was discussed several months back, it may have been under the "Music" category. Probably Bob Wills had the first significant recording of "My Window Faces the South" in 1938 with Leon McAuliffe on the vocal. They re-cut it in the mid 1940's on the Tiffany Transcription series with Tommy Duncan singing it. Charlie Walker and probably 20 other singers recorded it since then. Of course Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen recorded it back in the 1970's and Bobby Black cooks on the steel on their version. Incidently, Bobby can play it on the E9th neck and you'd swear it was C6th. It's a great fun song to listen to and to play, and it's a happy song. I can still sing it myself. Takes a TIGHT arrangement to make it sound right though unless you get lucky. I would imagine that your band is able to do a very fine job with it.

Tim R.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Frank Parish

 

From:
Nashville,Tn. USA
Post  Posted 7 Apr 2001 2:23 am    
Reply with quote

John Hughey has a great version that's as good as I've heard.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Bob Hayes

 

From:
Church Hill,Tenn,USA
Post  Posted 7 Apr 2001 3:27 am    
Reply with quote

Herby Wallace RIPS IT! He playes it sooo fast..the wind he creates surly makes you turn south..I think he has it on an album..But He has played it live..and as most of you steel players know .Herby IS incredable...but he won't tell me How he does it...I can'r even think that fast. Visit Herbie's WEB sight for info.

[This message was edited by Bob Hayes on 11 April 2001 at 10:39 PM.]

View user's profile Send private message
MIKEHOLLAND

 

From:
stegenevievemo.usa
Post  Posted 8 Apr 2001 5:15 pm    
Reply with quote

Thanks guys, It was almost automatic that a song like that had to have been a BOB WILLS ARRANGEMENT. Is there anything by BOB WILLS that isn't a true work of art?
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Boomer

 

From:
Brentwood, TN USA
Post  Posted 8 Apr 2001 7:12 pm    
Reply with quote

George Strait had a good version ... but he chose to call it "You've Got to Have an Ace in the Hole" Best, Boomer
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Tim Rowley

 

From:
Pinconning, MI, USA
Post  Posted 8 Apr 2001 7:28 pm    
Reply with quote

Right you are, Boomer!

Tim R.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jeff Lampert

 

From:
queens, new york city
Post  Posted 8 Apr 2001 8:32 pm    
Reply with quote

The Commander Cody studio version is the best. It is a very tight, crisp arrangement that has tremendous drive. Cody's drummer Lance Dickerson has to be at the top of the country-rock food chain. He absolutely makes the song. Bobby Black of course plays nifty stuff on it, as do all the lead instrumentalists, but Dickerson creates the drive, and that is what it's all about in that song.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Les Pierce


From:
Shreveport, LA
Post  Posted 9 Apr 2001 7:20 am    
Reply with quote

Boomer, Tim,

Doesn't "Ace in the Hole" go to a IV chord where "South" goes to I7 in the first line of the song?

Les
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Boomer

 

From:
Brentwood, TN USA
Post  Posted 9 Apr 2001 10:01 am    
Reply with quote

Perhaps - However the melodies in different parts of both songs are more than coincidentally close. Best, Boomer
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
telecat

 

From:
Sutton,W.V. 26601
Post  Posted 9 Apr 2001 1:35 pm    
Reply with quote

I never thought of it boomer but you are right man wouldnt that be one for the courts to decide....lol, anyway, I was gonna agree that Hughey has a killer version and so do J.D.Crowe and the New South with Keith Whitley on vocals and Doug Jernigan on steel
BB

------------------
www.southernmix.com

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Boomer

 

From:
Brentwood, TN USA
Post  Posted 9 Apr 2001 1:46 pm    
Reply with quote

In my humble opinion, Gene O'Neal had one of the best versions. I don't know if he ever recorded it, but he wore it out when I picked with him at Skulls Rainbow Room on occasion. Best, Boomer
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Al Johnson

 

From:
Sturgeon Bay, WI USA
Post  Posted 9 Apr 2001 6:21 pm    
Reply with quote

Back about 1954 or thereabouts Decca put out
a set of records called Dance-a-Rama one
set was done by Grady Martin and his Winging
Strings They done a great recording of My
Window Faces The South. vocal by Red Foley.
Bud Issacs, Grady Martin, Hank Garland,
and other fine musicians. Red Foley did a
great vocal. Al
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Richard Sinkler


From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
Post  Posted 10 Apr 2001 4:42 pm    
Reply with quote

Bob H.
You know, I really rip that song up too. In fact, I rip it so bad you can hardly tell it's the same song.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jeff Lampert

 

From:
queens, new york city
Post  Posted 10 Apr 2001 7:31 pm    
Reply with quote

Also, a minor point, but in Ace In The Hole, when it goes from the I to VI chords, the chords are augmenteds. Minor point, but since we're discussing similarities, what the hey. Structurally, they seem identical.

[This message was edited by Jeff Lampert on 10 April 2001 at 08:38 PM.]

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Tom Moorman

 

From:
Decatur, GA USA
Post  Posted 11 Apr 2001 8:22 am    
Reply with quote

The great Sammi Smith did a version of this with Hal Rugg on steel. Fine singing and playing.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Ray Montee


From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
Post  Posted 11 Apr 2001 8:53 am    
Reply with quote

Buddy Emmons and Ray Pennington did a great job on it too....I seem to recall, but then again, I could be mistaken.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Jeff Lampert

 

From:
queens, new york city
Post  Posted 11 Apr 2001 9:23 am    
Reply with quote

I saw BE do it live at a steel guitar show in the Northeast in the 70's. He played a blistering solo, as good as is humanly possible, and the crowd went nuts over it, I mean crazy nuts. Then the lead singer, like the idiot he was, gave another solo to him. There is no way he could have played a better one that the first, and it wasn't, although it was certainly real, real good. But that first one was searing.

[This message was edited by Jeff Lampert on 11 April 2001 at 10:24 AM.]

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Rick Collins

 

From:
Claremont , CA USA
Post  Posted 11 Apr 2001 11:03 am    
Reply with quote

Hey Mike,

If your "window faces the south", put an awning on it.

Seriously, I thought I heard a recording of it by a singer, Red Foley. Does anyone know who is playing steel guitar on it?

Rick
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Rick Collins

 

From:
Claremont , CA USA
Post  Posted 11 Apr 2001 11:07 am    
Reply with quote

Sorry I just read Al Johnson's reply.

I would not have thought it was Bud Isaacs.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Bobbe Seymour

 

From:
Hendersonville TN USA, R.I.P.
Post  Posted 11 Apr 2001 11:25 am    
Reply with quote

Herby Wallace,I heard all the rest,like yours best. And your tone was very acceptable, Yup yup yup yup yup!
Bobbe
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Herby Wallace


From:
Sevierville, TN, R.I.P.
Post  Posted 13 Apr 2001 2:37 pm    
Reply with quote

Bobbe,

Thanks for the comments. I did record it on an Emmons LeGrande, so I hope that was acceptable.

Thanks,

Herby Wallace

------------------
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Joel Glassman

 

From:
Waltham MA USA
Post  Posted 23 Apr 2001 12:19 pm    
Reply with quote

Are there other songs with the same progression as My Window...? I'd like some words to sing in the middle. I sometimes sing Merle Travis' "Kinfolks in Carolina", but its
a different progression. Any ideas? Thanks. -Joel
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jim Roby

 

From:
Amory, Ms. usa
Post  Posted 2 May 2001 10:09 pm    
Reply with quote

Hey Bobbe, You ought to hear Herby play it on E9th ( (
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Bobbe Seymour

 

From:
Hendersonville TN USA, R.I.P.
Post  Posted 7 May 2001 3:41 pm    
Reply with quote

Herby plays it so fast I need track shoes on to listen to it! He recorded it in my "Wulf's lair" recording studio in Hendersonville, He played it so fast that the tape in the machine couldn't keep up with the notes!
Bobbe
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Jump to:  
Please review our Forum Rules and Policies
Our Online Catalog
Strings, CDs, instruction, and steel guitar accessories
www.SteelGuitarShopper.com

The Steel Guitar Forum
148 S. Cloverdale Blvd.
Cloverdale, CA 95425 USA

Click Here to Send a Donation

Email SteelGuitarForum@gmail.com for technical support.


BIAB Styles
Ray Price Shuffles for Band-in-a-Box
by Jim Baron