Sons of the Pioneers 47-xx-xx (36) First Song - Yodel Your Troubles Away

Summary

---

Sons of the Pioneers: Episode Overview

Main Theme: This episode of Harold's Old Time Radio spotlights the Sons of the Pioneers, a classic Western musical group, delivering a mix of harmony-rich cowboy songs, playful banter, and audience-requested performances. With Bob Nolan at the helm, listeners are taken back to the golden era of radio, where music and camaraderie offered comfort and joy amid life's troubles.

---

Key Discussion Points & Notable Performances

1. Bob Nolan's Opening Reflections

• [00:24] Bob Nolan introduces the episode with an insight on how, while statesmen and philosophers ponder the world’s problems, the Sons of the Pioneers have their own "little personal formula" for happiness—offering music as a soothing remedy.
• Quote:
  "We don't know whether they're right or wrong. They don't seem to have cured it as yet. But we've got our own little personal formula that we kind of like. And maybe you might try it yourself." – Bob Nolan [00:24]

2. “Yodel Your Troubles Away” — Uplifting Opening Number

• The group launches into the cheerful "Yodel Your Troubles Away," encouraging listeners to let music lighten their burdens.
• Notable Lyric:
  "Saddle your worries to a cowboy song and yodel your troubles away..." – Ensemble [00:45]

3. Handling Listener Requests with Good-Natured Banter

• Timmy (the "secretary of special request") and Patrick join Bob to address a flood of song requests, demonstrating the group's rapport and improvisational humor.
• Listener requests for songs like “I Follow the Stream,” “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair,” and “Timber” are discussed.
• Amusing Exchange:
  • Timmy: "Oh, let's make [‘Timber’] a little later this week, Bob. It hasn't been so long since we sang it, you know." [01:46]

4. “Termites Love Song” — Comic Relief Segment

• Patrick surprises everyone with a tongue-in-cheek "answer song" to “Timber,” called “Termites Love Song.”
  • The rest of the cast groans, but Patrick insists:
    "This will kill you, Timothy." – Patrick [01:57]
• The song itself is a playful tale about love-stricken termites under a bungalow floor.
• Notable Lyric:
  "When the floor begins to shiver we will shout out hi ho, sliver, oh termite don't say gnaw, cause I'm in love with you." – Patrick [03:03]

5. “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” — Classic Request Fulfilled

• After a brief pause for a sponsor message, Lloyd Perryman sings this much-requested Stephen Foster classic.
• Delivered with tender vocals and minimal accompaniment, evoking nostalgia and warmth.
• After-song banter:
  • Bob Nolan: "Pretty as a new moon, Lloyd." [07:08]
  • FAL Gorn: "Pretty as a tree full of hummingbirds." [07:11]

6. The Humorous Introduction to a Made-Up Song

• FAL Gorn continues the facetious spirit by unveiling a joke of a song title:
  "Come down off that Windmill, Grandpa or Grandma will have you skinned. Bring those bed sheets with you. She knows you're three sheets in the limp bleach." – FAL Gorn [07:17]

7. “The Cowboy They Call Slim” — A Tribute Song

• The group performs a harmony-rich Western tribute to the archetypal cowboy, Slim, celebrating his skill and resilience.
• The lyrics paint vivid imagery of the Old West and the camaraderie among cowboys.

8. “I Follow the Stream” — Reflective Closer

• Bob Nolan offers a thoughtful monologue on life’s journey, likening it to a winding stream, followed by the song.
• Quote:
  "There's no roadmap to happiness. We all wander the way of life. And don't let anyone tell you that taking this turn or that will answer all the questions because it won't. Did you ever notice the course of a river? It just... makes up its mind about directions as it goes along... Well, that's pretty much the way I feel about life. I just follow the stream." – Bob Nolan [11:46]
• The song provides a gentle, hopeful message about trusting the flow of life.

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Music as a Salve for Troubles:
  "Saddle your worries to a cowboy song and yodel your troubles away..." [00:45]
• Comedy & Camaraderie:
  "I will now sing the answer song to Timber entitled the Termites Love Song. Get it?" – Patrick [02:00]
• Warm Listener Outreach:
  "We want all our listeners to know that we do answer requests. It sometimes takes a few weeks, but when enough requests are made for a song, we sing it right." – Bob Nolan [05:17]
• Homey Wisdom:
  "There's no roadmap to happiness. We all wander the way of life.... I just follow the stream." – Bob Nolan [11:46]

---

Key Segment Timestamps

• Opening reflection & philosophy – [00:24]
• “Yodel Your Troubles Away” – [00:45]
• Listener requests banter – [01:29]
• “Termites Love Song” (comedic bit) – [02:22]
• “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” – [05:33]
• Joke Western song titles – [07:17]
• “The Cowboy They Call Slim” – [08:45]
• Bob Nolan’s river-of-life monologue – [11:46]
• “I Follow the Stream” – [12:19]
• Sign-off – [13:55]

---

Tone & Style

The episode radiates warmth, nostalgia, gentle humor, and homespun wisdom. The banter among the Sons of the Pioneers feels natural and cozy, blending earnest musical performances with lighthearted, comedic interludes. The group’s camaraderie and dedication to their audience shine throughout, making it feel like an evening spent by a crackling fire in simpler times.

---

Transcript

[A]

See.

[B]

Them tumbling down.

[C]

I do. This is Bob Nolan and all the Sons of the Pioneers. You know, a lot of great statesmen and philosophers are always telling us what wrong with the world and how to cure it. We don't know whether they're right or wrong. They don't seem to have cured it as yet. But we've got our own little personal formula that we kind of like. And maybe you might try it yourself.

[B]

Saddle your worries to a cowboy song and yodel your troubles away Rend all your sorrows as you go along With a yippee I O ki yay Throw a rope around the sun as he rolls by so you can keep him shining way up in the sky Then settle your worries to a cowboy song and yodel your troubles away.

[C]

Goodbye blues.

[D]

Say, Bob, we've got a flock of requests here. Can we answer some of them?

[C]

Well, you're a secretary of special request, you know, Timmy.

[D]

Well, one thing, Bob, they want to hear is your song, I Follow the Stream.

[B]

Hey, that's it.

[D]

And they also want to hear Lloyd Pearman sing Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair.

[C]

And what about that request for your song, Timber?

[D]

Oh, let's make that a little later this week, Bob. It hasn't been so long since we sang it, you know.

[E]

Hey, I got an idea, Tim.

[C]

Yeah?

[E]

Let me sing the answer song to Timber.

[D]

I didn't even know there was one, Patrick.

[E]

Sure. This will kill you, Timothy.

[D]

I can see that coming.

[E]

I will now sing the answer song to Timber entitled the Termites Love Song. Get it?

[D]

I don't want it.

[E]

Yeah, Never mind. You're going to get it anyway.

[D]

All right, we might as well take it.

[A]

H. Term.

[E]

Termites.

Underneath a bungalow in a hardwood floor Lived a little termite who was an awful bore he met a lady termite just gnawing out her life and so this termite asked Hermite is she a please a be a come Here's a wife.

Like two babes in the wood, the wood, the wood will live as termite should or could or would I'll fix a cozy den In a nice big two by ten it's joist, the sort of joist to nibble through.

When the floor begins to shiver we will shout out hi ho, sliver oh termite don't say gnaw Cause I'm in love with you like two beds in the wood, the wood, the wood will do what termite should or could or would and while people slumber we will ruin lots of lumber and in the sawdust we will build and Chill you I will pine away without you oh, I'm simply not about you I wonder my dice say that I'm in love with you.

Delicious.

[C]

Where do you get those songs, Pat? And now. Now a message from our sponsor.

We want all our listeners to know that we do answer requests. It sometimes takes a few weeks, but when enough requests are made for a song, we sing it right. Now, here's Lloyd Perryman and that Stephen Foster song so many of you requested.

[A]

I.

Dream of Jeannie with a light brown hair.

Borne like a vapor on the summer air.

I see her tripping where the bright streams play.

Happy as the days is that dance on her way.

Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour.

Many were the blackbirds.

That warbled them all.

I.

Dreamed of Genie with her light brown hair.

Floating like.

A vapor.

On the soft.

Summer.

Air.

[C]

Pretty as a new moon.

[B]

Lloyd. How's it going, Lloyd?

[F]

Pretty as a tree full of hummingbirds.

[C]

FAL Gorn, you're a poet. No wonder you write such beautiful song titles.

[F]

Well, it's a pleasure to do business with you boys. The name of this one is Come down off that Windmill, Grandpa or Grandma will have you skinned. Bring those bed sheets with you. She knows you're three sheets in the limp bleach.

[A]

Sam.

[C]

Time now for a little three way Western harmony. A tribute to the cow puncher who drifted his way across the west and into the hearts of a lot of friends. His name, like someone you may know, was Slim.

[B]

Though his legs are bowed from the Bronx he's roared, nothing ever worries him. He's the straightest shooting kind of a fell you can find. The cowboy they call Slim.

The cowboy they calls him. He can rope and ride anything with high. You can bet your boots on him and you'll never see the day that he'll ride the easy way. The cowboy they call Slim.

The cowboy they call Slim he was born to the saddle on the open plains west of the Great Divide. And he never set a straddle any Bronx or brain of cattle that he ever they'll do right.

When the promised land needs a new top hand and they throw a rope for him.

He will answer to the call with his boots and spurs and all the cowboy they call Slim.

The cowboy they call Slim.

[C]

In just a moment, that other special request. I follow the stream. But first, a message from our sponsor.

There's no roadmap to happiness. We all wander the way of life. And don't let anyone tell you that taking this turn or that will answer all the questions because it won't. Did you ever notice the course of a river? It just kind of makes up its mind about directions as it goes along twisting and turning but always singing its way to the place it meant to go anyway. Well, that's pretty much the way I feel about life. I just follow the stream.

[B]

Wandering down through the years Like a brook winding on in a dream.

[A]

Somehow.

[B]

It leads me home if I'll just follow the stream.

Drifting along like a leaf on the rippling waters that gleam.

Wondering where it goes and so I follow the stream.

Through the shady nook the leafy vale.

Beyond the waterfall I'll find a trail that leads me on when the twilight appears and the moon With a pale yellow beam.

Guides me along as through the night I follow the stream.

When the twilight appears and the moon With a pale yellow beam.

Guides me along as through the night I follow the stream.

[C]

This is Bob Nolan signing off for all the Sons of the Pioneers. So long now.

Ra.