Outlaws – Ghost Riders in the Sky

I could have picked many artists who have covered this song but this is the one I heard first. The song is a standard and it was originally written and recorded in 1948 by Stan Jones. Jones based the melody on Johnny Comes Marching Home.

Jones said the song came from a story he heard when he was young. The story was told to him by an old Indian man from Arizona. When someone dies, their spirit leaves the body and goes to the sky. They stay up in the sky and become ghost riders. Jones was a kid when he first heard the story, he never forgot it.

This was written and originally recorded by Stan Jones in 1948. Jones was a forest ranger who wrote songs on the side. After recording his version of the song, artists like Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Lorne Greene, Gene Autry, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and too many more to list covered it.  all recorded it.

The Outlaws released this song in 1980. It was on the album Ghost Riders. The album peaked at #25 on the Billboard Album Charts and the song peaked at #31 on the Billboard 100.

The band was formed in Tampa Florida in 1967. In 1974 The Outlaws were the first act signed to Arista Records under Clive Davis. They were helped out by Ronnie Van Zant. In Columbus Georgia, The Outlaws were opening up for Lynyrd Skynyrd with Clive Davis in the audience which wasn’t a secret to the bands. Van Zant said from the stage to Clive Davis…“If you don’t sign Outlaws, you’re the dumbest music person I’ve ever met—and I know you’re not.” They were signed.

Ghost Riders in the Sky

An old cowboy went ridin’ out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed steers he saw
A ploughin’ through the ragged skies and up a cloudy draw

Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel
Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky
He saw the riders coming hard… and he heard their mournful cry

Yippie i ay Yippie i oh
Ghost riders in
Ghost riders in the sky

Yippie i ay (Yippie i ay) Yippie i oh (Yippie i oh)
Ghost riders in the sky

Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their shirts all soaked with sweat
They’re ridin’ hard to catch that herd but they ain’t caught ’em yet
‘Cause they’ve got to ride forever in the range up in the sky
On horses snorting fire as they ride hard, hear them cry

Yippie i ay Yippie i oh
Ghost riders in
Ghost riders in the sky

Ghost riders in the sky

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

17 thoughts on “Outlaws – Ghost Riders in the Sky”

  3. This stands out in my mind as one of the really cool, different-sounding one hit wonders of ’81. I always have liked it and don’t hear it often enough. Not sure if I’ve heard anything else at all by the Outlaws though.

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  4. What a great band The Outlaws were. Vastly under-rated, I think. I only got to see them once (they supported The Who and SAHB at an open air show in Glasgow in 1976) I have their first three albums on vinyl and like the above comment love Greeen Grass and High Tides – their ‘Free Bird.’ 🙂

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