Running Bear
"Running Bear" is a song written by J. P. Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by Richardson and George Jones and the session's producer Bill Hall, who provided the "Indian chanting" of "uga-uga" during the three verses, as well as the "Indian war cries" at the start and end of the record. It was No. 1 for three weeks in January 1960 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song also reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1960. Coincidentally, "Running Bear" was immediately preceded in the Hot 100 No. 1 position by Marty Robbins' "El Paso", another song in which the protagonist dies. Billboard ranked "Running Bear" as the No. 4 song of 1960.
Richardson was a friend of Preston and offered "Running Bear" to him after hearing him perform in a club. Preston recorded the song at the Gold Star Studios in Houston, Texas in 1958. The saxophone was played by Link Davis.
Preston was signed to Mercury Records, and "Running Bear" was released in August 1959, seven months after Richardson's death in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.
Podcasts:
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by The Guess Who
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by Don Fardon
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by Sonny James
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by Tom Jones
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by Mud
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by Johnny Preston
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by George Jones
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by Guess Who
Running Bear
by: The Guess Who(J P Richardson)
On the banks of the river
Stood Runnin' Bear, young Indian brave
On the other side of the river
Stood his lovely Indian maid
Little White Dove was-a her name
Such a lovely sight to see
But their tribes fought with each other
So their love could never be
Runnin' Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love big as the sky
Runnin' Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love that couldn't die
He couldn't swim the raging river
'Cause the river was too wide
He couldn't reach Little White Dove
Waiting on the other side
In the moonlight he could see her
Throwing kisses 'cross the waves
Her little heart was beating faster
Waiting there for her brave
Runnin' Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love big as the sky
Runnin' Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love that couldn't die
Runnin' Bear dove in the water
Little White Dove did the same
And they swam out to each other
Through the swirling stream they came
As their hands touched and their lips met
The ragin' river pulled them down
Now they'll always be together
In that happy hunting ground
Runnin' Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love big as the sky
Runnin' Bear loved Little White Dove
With a love that couldn't die