Ghost Riders in the Sky is a country song composed in the cowboy style in 1948 by Stan Jones. Little did he know then what a hit his song was going to become, as there have been dozens of rewrites and versions over the decades. Ghost Riders in the Sky is a visionary song about a cowboy who sees cattle with red eyes being chased by ghost cowboys in the sky. He is warned to change his life style or risk to become one of them as a punishment for all his evil deeds. The song has strong echoes of European myths and it surely has a great artistic making.

Ghost Riders in the Sky has become a classic by now, and almost all the big names of country music made an attempt at its interpretation. Moreover, it seems the that the famous band The Doors took their inspiration from Ghost Riders in the Sky song when they created their Riders on the Storm hit. From all the variants of the material, the one recorded by Vaughn Monroe in 1949 was the most popular climbing to the first place in the Billboard charts of the year, and holding this position for no less than twenty two weeks.

Ghost Riders in the Sky was performed in the movie Blues Brothers 2000, and then it inspired a heavy metal rendition by a German band. In time, other rock bands made attempts at combining the initial original country song with the message of the rock movement, and they enjoyed different levels of success. Ghost Riders in the Sky generated cultural responses other than rewrites and new versions, and here we mainly refer to parody and political engagement.

An Irish parody variant of Ghost Riders in the Sky deals with the destruction of British helicopters by IRA members, though no such violence has ever occurred. Regardless of the political charges that could be added to the Ghost Riders in the Sky, the majority of the performing artists are not aware of them, and sing the song without any reference to terrorist or Republican facts. Last but not least, Ghost Riders in the Sky also served as a starting point for the creation of some football club songs by supporters. Yet, beyond all the remaking, it is clearly obvious that Ghost riders in the Sky made history in the annals of country music.

Ghost Rider – Ghost Riders In The Sky ( Spiderbait )

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