Australian singles charts:
Running Bear entered the Kent charts on 5 December 1959 and peaked at #2. It was #19 on the Top 100 of 1960. Running Bear charted again on 8 May 1965, peaking at #39.
Songwriter:
JP Richardson
Producer:
Bill Hall
Record label of Australian release:
Mercury
Songfacts:
Running Bear was written by JP Richardson who was an influential Texas disc jockey known as “The Big Bopper.” Richardson had a hit of his own in 1958 with Chantilly Lace and on 3 February 1959 was killed in the plane crash that also claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. In America, this song was released about 6 months later, as it was delayed by legal constraints due to Richardson’s death in the plane crash.
Rock and Roll was still in its infancy in the ’50s, and teenagers were the target audience. Many of the songs of that era are about teenagers and, like this one, often involve tragedy. In this song, Running Bear is a young Indian who falls in love with a girl, Little White Dove, from a rival tribe across the river. At the end of the song, they swim to meet each other and drown.
Preston’s recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session’s producer Bill Hall who provided the Indian chanting and war cries.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/johnny-preston/running-bear
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