Don't Fence Me In (song)
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For the episode of Dad's Army, see Don't Fence Me In (Dad's Army). "Don't Fence Me In" is a song written by Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher in 1934. It was Porter's least favorite song and does not have his usual signature. Originally written for an unproduced 20th Century Fox film musical, Adios Argentina, in 1934, "Don't Fence Me In" was based on text by an engineer who was also a poet, Robert (Bob) Fletcher. Cole bought the poem from Bob Fletcher for $250 and adapted it. When the song was first published, Porter was credited with sole authorship, but he had essentially re-worked the poem written earlier by Fletcher. Fletcher, who worked with the Department of Highways in Helena, Montana, also wrote the "roadside history" plaques that were displayed along Montana's highways until the 1980s. Fletcher sold the song/poem to Porter when Porter had been asked to write a cowboy song for the film. Porter had wanted to give Fletcher co-authorship credit, but his publishers did not allow that. Later, after the song became very popular, Fletcher hired attorneys who negotiated his being given co-authorship credit in subsequent publications. Ten years later, in 1944, Warner Bros. resurrected "Don't Fence Me In" for Roy Rogers to sing in the movie, Hollywood Canteen. Many people heard the song for the first time when Kate Smith introduced it on her 1944-10-08 radio broadcast. "Don't Fence Me In" was also recorded by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in 1944. Crosby entered the studio on July 25,1944, without having seen or heard the song. Within 30 minutes he and the Andrews Sisters had made the recording, which later sold over a million copies and topped the Billboard charts for 8 weeks in 1944-45. The chorus section of the song, with musical chords in brackets, begins as follows:[1]
The song was also sung in a Roy Rogers film, "Don't Fence Me In" (1945): [2] where Dale Evans plays a magazine reporter who comes to Roy Rogers' and Gabby Hayes' ranch to research a story which she is writing about a legendary late gunslinger. When it's revealed that Gabby Hayes is actually the thought-dead outlaw, Roy must clear his name. Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers also find time to perform some songs, including the Cole Porter title tune (film running time: 64 minutes). David Byrne did a cover of this song in 1990 for a Cole tribute album entitled Red Hot + Blue. Byrne also performed what he describes as his "Brazilian" version of the song during his 2004 tour for the Grown Backwards album. [3] Notes
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