"Mule Train" is a popular song written by Johnny Lange, Hy Heath, Ramblin' Tommy Scott and Fred Glickman.
[1] Charting versions were recorded by Frankie Laine, Bing Crosby, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Vaughn Monroe.
It featured a bellowed vocal delivery (like that of a real driver shouting to be heard) and studio-created gimmicks such as whipcracking sound effects.
The record first reached the Billboard chart on November 18, 1949 and lasted nine weeks on the listing, peaking at number 10.
He played an outlaw who became town marshal with the intent of stealing a shipment of gold, and sang the song while at the reins of what appeared to be a stagecoach.
Woody Herman and The King Cole Trio, with Irving Ashby, Joe Comfort and Gene Orloff, made a recording of "Mule Train" on November 7, 1949 in New York City, as well as the track "My Baby Just Cares For Me", which were both released by Capitol Records as a single, catalog number 787, which gave label credit to Herman for "Mule Train" and to the trio for "My Baby Just Cares For Me".
In 1950, a satirical version of the song, "Chinese Mule Train," was recorded by Spike Jones and his City Slickers, with banjoist Freddy Morgan (misspelled on the record like "Fleddy Morgan" as a joke) providing the Chinese-like vocals.
Bob Blackman appeared on numerous British light entertainment programmes in the 1970s, singing "Mule Train" whilst hitting his head with a tin tray.
When Al Jolson appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show, he attributed his receiving the award to his being the only singer of any importance not to make a record of "Mule Train", which had been a widely covered hit of that year (four different versions, one of them by Crosby, had made the top ten on the charts).