Three Wheels On My Wagon by The New Christy Minstrels

Album: The Definitive New Christy Minstrels (1964)

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Burt Bacharach is not a name readily associated with novelty songs, but this number, co-written with Bob Hilliard, shows he was no fish out of water when it came to setting music to humorous ditties. The singer is a cowboy who is fleeing from pursuing Injuns with three wheels on his wagon, then two, then one, then when the final wheel breaks and he and his family are captured, he invites them to sing along with him. And they do!
This was originally recorded by Dick Van Dyke but the best known version was recorded by The New Christy Minstrels. The song opens to the strains of a banjo playing "Oh! Susanna" badly, and there are worried interjections by the narrator's wife and son which he dismisses angrily. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

Comments: 1

Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 14th 1964, the New Christy Minstrels performed at the White House in Washington, DC; Lyndon Johnson was President at the time, and the President of Italy, Antonio Segni, was a guest of LBJ...
Between 1962 and 1965 the group had six Top 100 records, but "Three Wheels On My Wagon" was not one of them, it did not make the Top 100...
Their two biggest hits were "Green, Green" {#14 in 1963} and "Today" {#17 in 1964}...
At the time of the White House appearance Barry McGuire was a member of the group, and two years later in 1966 Kenny Rogers became a member.

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