Westerns that Featured a Great Song Over the Opening Credits (Interactive)

Nothing draws in a movie audience more quickly than an original song presented over the rolling title credits. If it is good and sets the proper tone, a certain intimacy will be created between what is on the screen and the viewer even before the fade-in.

For budgetary reasons, such title-credits-cum-song-tracks have been presented only rarely, and then mostly in Dramas, Romances, and Westerns. But whereas the former two generally limit their offerings to gooey love songs (not all of them bad), the latter concern themselves with a wider range of (mostly masculine) instincts and emotions: bravery, committment, betrayal, heartbreak and loneliness.

The following list, which I have prepared, is intended to be interactive so that those who are interested can easily access the relevent video clips. It does not, by any pretense, cover all the original Western songs that have been specifically written for supplementing film credits, but it does cover the most notable ones. The order of listing is alphbetical. As to merit, you'll have to decide for yourself.

At this point, special mention should be made of Frankie Laine who has contributed no less than five of the twenty-six songs here. It could well have been six. Although he did not vocalize the theme of "High Noon" for the film, he nevertheless recorded the vinyl hit version, far and away one of the most popular of 1952. Later, he lent his distinctively super-charged baritone voice to the credits of the TV series "Rawhide" which became a stepping stone to fame for a then relatively unknown Clint Eastwood.

My only regret is that I was unable to include "Johnny Guitar" in the list. The haunting, plaintive ballad performed by Peggy Lee is not vocalized until just prior to "The End" fadeout and sadly did not meet the necessary criterion. But, if you are curious, check it out on YouTube. You won't be sorry.