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Hopalong Cassidy Songs
"The Angels Handed Me A Rose" (Hoppy's Song For Grace) -- A New Song
"Following the Stars" (First song in a Hopalong Cassidy movie)"Here He Comes"(Hopalong Cassidy TV theme song)
"Hopalong Cassidy (Clippity, Clippity, Clop)"
"Hoppy, Gene and Me" -- recorded by Roy Rogers
"Hoppy, Topper and Me" -- recorded by Margaret Whiting
"Along Come Hopalong Cassidy"-- recorded by Braden Corby
"Hoppy's Gone" -- recorded by Roger Miller
© PineTree Press, picture taken in 1995
The information on this page was written by songwriter Roger Hall, who is shown in the above picture with silent and serial film actor, Frank "Junior" Coghlan, and Grace Bradley Boyd (wife of William Boyd).
Read about how Roger met William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy in New York City back in 1950 for a magazine shoot in the illustrated book available in a new 3rd edition with many rare pictures.
To read about how to order this book click on this image:
Is this a Hopalong Cassidy song collection?
You may have seen this collection available on eBay or other sites and assume that it contains sheet music from songs in Hopalong Cassidy westerns.
Even though there is a picture of Hopalong Cassidy on the cover, none of the song lyrics are from Hopalong Cassidy westerns.
There are only a few movie scenes from Hoppy films as illustrations.
This is a collection of movie scenes and song lyrics that has nothing to do with Hopalong Cassidy songs.Buyer beware!
Hopalong Cassidy Song Series
This series was written by songwriter, Roger Hall,
and featured in the HOPPY TALK Fan Club Newsletter,
Laura Bates, Editor/Publisher; Fred Romary, Associate Editor
No. 1: "HILLS OF OLD WYOMING" -
(words by Leo Robin/ music by Ralph Rainger)
title song from the Hopalong Cassidy movie (1937)
in HOPPY TALK (Vol. 19, No. 3, Summer 2012)
No. 2: "TWILIGHT ON THE TRAIL"
(words and music by Sidney Mitchell and Louis Alter)
title song from the Hopalong Cassidy movie (1941)
sung by Brad King
with The Jimmy Wakely Trio
in HOPPY TALK (Vol. 19, No. 4, Winter 2013)
No. 3: "THE FUNNY OLD HILLS"
(words & music by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger)
made popular by Bing Crosby in the 1938 film,
PARIS HONEYMOON,
also sung in the Hopalong Cassidy movie,
TWILIGHT ON THE TRAIL
by Brad King with The Jimmy Wakely Trio
HOPPY TALK (Vol. 20, No. 1, Spring 2013)
No. 4: "TAKE ME BACK TO THOSE WIDE OPEN SPACES"
(words & music by Harry Tobias and Jack Stern)
sung by a studio soloist and chorus in
TRAIL DUST (1936)
HOPPY TALK (Vol. 20, No. 2, Autumn 2013)
No. 5: "LAZY ROLLS THE RIO GRANDE"
(words by Foster Carling/ music by Phil Ohman)
sung by Eddie Dean with The King's Men
in RENEGADE TRAIL (1939)
HOPPY TALK (Vol. 20, No. 3, Winter 2014)
No. 6: "JINGLE, JANGLE, JINGLE"
(words by Frank Loesser/ music by Joseph J. Lilley)
sung by The Sportsmen Quartette
in LOST CANYON (1943)
HOPPY TALK (Vol. 20, No. 4, Spring 2014)
Jimmy Wakely, Grace Bradley Boyd, William Boyd
In celebration of the Jimmy Wakley Centennial (1914-2014)
No. 7: "MY KIND OF COUNTRY"
(words by Frank Loesser/ music by Jimmy McHugh)
sung by The Jimmy Wakely Trio
in STICK TO YOUR GUNS (1941)
in HOPPY TALK (Vol. 21, No. 1, Autumn 2014)
A young cowgirl fan of "Range Rider"
with Dick Jones (on left) and Jack (Jock) MahoneyIn memory of Dick Jones (1927-2014)
No. 8: "HOME ON THE RANGE"
(words by Dr. Brewster Higley/music by Daniel E. Kelley)
sung by St. Brendan's Boy Choir
in THE FRONTIERSMEN (1938)
in HOPPY TALK (Vol. 21, No. 2, Winter 2015)
No. 9: "WHEN THE MOON HANGS HIGH"
from BAR 20 RIDES AGAIN (1935)
(words by Dave Franklin/music by Sam H. Stept)
sung by Chill Wills and His Avalon Boys
HOPPY TALK (Vol. 21, No. 3, Spring 2015)
Final song in this song series
No. 10: "HERE HE COMES, HOPALONG CASSIDY!"
Television Theme Song (Hopalong Cassidy March)
(words by L. Wolfe Gilbert/music by Nacio Herb Brown)
HOPPY TALK (Vol. 21, No. 4, Summer 2015)This song is available on this CD:
Television's Greatest Hits, Volume 4:
65 TV themes from the '50s and '60s
New Song About Hoppy!
This song, with beautiful lyrics by Susie Coffman
from her book, Follow Your Stars, is titled:"The Angels Handed Me A Rose
(Hoppy's Song For Grace)"
Songwriter Roger Hall sang this new song in Cambridge, Ohio
at the 20th anniversary Hopalong Cassidy Festival in 2010.Upon learning of her passing
he dedicated this song in memory
of the beloved Mrs Hopalong Cassidy.
See the song lyrics at this link:
The instrumental version of
"The Angels handed me a rose" is
included on this CD.
To read more about the CD -- click here
[Sheet music cover from first song in a Hopalong Cassidy movie]
It is not generally known that there were over 40 songs featured
in Hopalong Cassidy westerns between 1935 and 1947. There were also appealing film scores for these westerns by composers like, John Leipold and Victor Young.While it is true that Hopalong Cassidy was not a singing cowboy, there were singers and singing groups featured in his westerns, especially during the 1930s and early 1940s.
In the first film of the long-running series, titled HOP-A-LONG CASSIDY (1935), "Following the Stars" was sung by James (or Jimmy) Ellison playing Johnny Nelson. He wasn't a strong singer but did very nicely making this song an important part of the film's story.
There is a list of all the song titles and the singers and film composers featured in
Hopalong Cassidy westerns in the 3rd edition of this book on a computer disc
with music, pictures and video clips titled,
"Following the Stars"
Music & Memories of Hopalong Cassidy
by Roger Hall
Music in Hopalong Cassidy Films in the 1930s
HOP-A-LONG CASSIDY (or HOPALONG CASSIDY ENTERS)(1935)
In the first film of the 66 in the series, "Following the Stars" was sung by Jimmy Ellison as Johnny Nelson -- he wasn't a really strong singer but did very nicely with the song which was heard several times in the film.
CALL OF THE PRAIRIE (1936)
This early western in the series has a title song sung by Chill Wills and His Avalon Boys.
The song was written by Tot Seymour and Vee Lawnhurst.
TRAIL DUST(1936)
B-Western author Boyd Magers called this film, "one of the series' finest efforts." There are three wonderful songs in this Hoppy film: Title song, "Beneath A Western Sky," and "Take Me Back To Those Wide Open Spaces." The Title Song had words & music by Claudia Humphrey and the other two songs were written by Harry Tobias and Jack Stern. "Take Me Back To Those Wide Open Spaces" was written about in the Hopalong Cassidy Song Series in the HOPPY TALK newsletter by songwriter and author, Roger Hall.
NORTH OF THE RIO GRANDE (1937)
This was even a Hoppy western with several Irish songs. Walter Long playing Irishman Bull O'Hara, warbles the song, "Wearin' of the Green," accompanied at the piano by George ("Windy") Hayes -- who wasn't really a piano player! Later in the film, singer Bernadene Hayes as Faro Annie sings the popular song,"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (and Hoppy dances with her too!).
THE FRONTIERSMEN (1938)
The St. Bendan's Boys Choir directed by Robert Mitchell were featured in this western. This choir sang a bunch of traditional songs in this Hoppy movie, including "Home on the Range," "Clementine," "Columbia, The Gem of The Ocean," and "Auld Lang Syne." The film also featured a young Dickie Jones (who didn't sing), and a few years later he was the voice of the wooden boy in Disney's animated film classic, PINOCCHIO. Later he appeared in THE STRAWBERRY ROAN, starring Gene Autry and worked on his television series. Dick Jones was a guest at the Hopalong Cassidy Festival in 2006 in Cambridge, Ohio.
RENEGADE TRAIL (1939)
The next year of 1939 featured the first singing quartet in a Hoppy movie.
They were known as The King's Men and sang two songs in RENEGADE TRAIL.
This was one of the Hopalong Cassidy westerns with a young boy in the cast. His full name was Moyer MacLaren ("Sonny") Bupp [shown in the above picture]. A few years later, Sonny played Charles Foster Kane 's son in CITIZEN KANE. He told me that he had really enjoyed playing in that Hopalong Cassidy movie opposite William Boyd, who treated him very kindly. The first song in RENEGADE TRAIL was "Lazy Rolls The Rio Grande" was written about in the Hopalong Cassidy Song Series by Roger Hall, and it is sung in the movie by The Kings Men with a nice solo by future singing cowboy star, Eddie Dean.
The other song was "Hi Thar, Stranger!"
Hopalong Cassidy with The King's Men
in RENEGADE TRAIL (1939)One of the members of The King's Men was Ken Darby, who later worked at 20th Century Fox Studios as an arranger, songwriter and conductor.
He received three Oscars for his work on Hollywood musicals:
THE KING AND I (1956), PORGY AND BESS (1959), and CAMELOT (1967).To read about Ken Darby's music arranging and songwriting -- click here
Music in Hopalong Cassidy Films in the 1940s
There were less songs in later Hoppy movies, most of them were in the early 1940s.
Brad King (real name: Jack Watt) was a singer who appeared in 5 Hopalong Cassidy movies in 1941, including two with The Jimmy Wakely Trio: STICK TO YOUR GUNS and TWILIGHT ON THE TRAIL
The Guardsmen: RIDERS OF THE TIMBERLINE (1941) - "The Fightin' Forty"
The Sportsmen Quartette with Thurl Ravenscroft: LOST CANYON (1943) -
"Jingle, Jangle, Jingle"
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"Here He Comes"
(Hopalong Cassidy TV Theme Song)
Here he comes,
Here he comes,
There's the trumpets,
There's the drums,
Here he comes,
Hopalong Cassidy,
Here he comes!
These lyrics are from the television theme song,
by L. Wolfe Gilbert (1886-1970)
with music by Nacio Herb Brown (1896-1964)
"Hopalong Cassidy
(Clippity, Clippity, Clop)"
This song was written by Harry Leon and Jack Henry
and published by Box & Cox in London, England in 1954.
Here is a promotional copy of the sheet music cover from
Joe Caro's colorful illustrated guide, Hopalong Cassidy Collectibles:
There were several recordings made in the UK of this delightful song. This is the chorus of the song:
Hopalong Cassidy Clippity clippity clop,
Hopalong Cassidy Clippity clippity clop,
He rides by day, he rides by night,
His gun by his side 'cos he can fight,
Hopalong Cassidy got 'em on the run,
Hopalong Cassidy hand upon your gun,
Once upon the trail you'll bet he'll never stop,
So Hopalong Cassidy clippity clippity clop.One recording was made by child singer Mandy Miller in 1954 on a Parlophone 78 RPM (R3908).
Another one was a 78 RPM made by Sam Browne and The Sunshine Kids which is available on
A more elaborate recording of the song was made by Billy Cotton and His Band, with Allan Breeze and His Bandits.
"Hopalong Cassidy (Clippity, Clippity Clop) was sung for the first time in public in nearly 50 years by Roger Hall, at the Hopalong Cassidy Festival in Cambridge, Ohio in 2000.
"Hoppy, Gene and Me" (1975)
William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy) with Gene Autry and others
William Boyd, Spade Cooley and Roy Rogers
A song by Thomas ("Snuff") Garrett, Stephen Dorff, and Milton Brown.
Written in 1975, it was the last hit record for singing cowboy star,
Roy Rogers.
"Hoppy, Topper and Me" (1951)
[Sheet music cover provided by a Hopalong Cassidy collector, Thanks, F.R.]
With lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert and music by Nacio Herb Brown (who also wrote the music for "Singin' in the Rain"), this rare "Official Hopalong Cassidy Music" was produced in 1951 by Nacio Publications and distributed by Consolidated Music Publishers in New York City.
This is the Refrain:
Last night in dreams, whom did I see?
Hoppy, Topper and Me.
Riding together, just we three:
Hoppy, Topper and Me.This song was recorded by Margaret Whiting and also featured the voice of William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy).
"Along Come Hopalong Cassidy" (1981)
This song by Braden Corby was released in 1981 as a 45 RPM on the Double A Records label. He wrote on his website:"The song got virtually no airplay -- except for a small town in southern Alberta --Stettler--there we rocketed to the number 6 spot. My claim to fame is that I hit the top ten in Stettler, Alberta. I gave up recording after that and stuck to live entertainment."
"Hoppy's Gone" (1972)
On September 12, 1972, Hoppy (William Lawrence Boyd) rode off for the last time to Cowboy Heaven.
This poignant song was written shortly afterwards by Johnny Slate, Larry Henley and Red Lane.
See the complete song lyrics at this link:http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/h/hoppysgone.shtml
"Hoppy's Gone" was sensitively sung by Roger Miller and
included on this recommended 3 CD box set:
King of the Road: The Genius of Roger Miller
Songwriter Roger Hall standing next to
an original Hopalong Cassidy shirt
and wearing Hoppy's original white hat (thanks to Susie C)
To order the latest edition of his book,
"Following the Stars - Music & Memories of Hopalong Cassidy,"
on a computer disc with music playable on your computer,
To send any of your comments or questions -- click here
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