jerry scoggins sang the theme song to beverly hillbillies.
jerry scoggins sang the theme song to beverly hillbillies.
who sang the theme song to beverly hillbillies?
jerry scoggins
on september 24, 1962, the duo recorded "the ballad of jed clampett" for the tv show "the beverly hillbillies". sung by jerry scoggins, the theme song became an immediate country music hit and was played at the beginning and end of each episode of the series. the song went to #1 on the billboard country chart, a first for any bluegrass recording. the song spent 20 weeks on that chart; it also reached #44 on billboard's pop chart. the television show was also a huge hit, broadcast in 76 countries around the world. in queens, new york a five year old boy named béla fleck heard the jed clampett theme on television. fleck said, "i couldn't breathe or think; i was completely mesmerized." he said it awakened a deeply embedded predisposition that "was just in there" to learn how to play the instrument. flatt and scruggs appeared in several episodes as family friends of the fictional clampetts. in their first appearance (season 1, episode 20), they portray themselves in the show and perform both the theme song and "pearl, pearl, pearl". that song went to #8 on the country chart in 1963. scruggs published an instruction book entitled "earl scruggs and the five string banjo" in 1968. it received a gold book award by the publisher, peer-southern corporation when it sold over a million copies. over their 20-year association, flatt and scruggs recorded over 50 albums and 75 single records and featured over 20 different musicians as "foggy mountain boys" — side men backing the duo.
earl scruggs
on december 20, 1988, yankovic recorded "money for nothing/beverly hillbillies". the song features the lyrics of "the beverly hillbillies" theme song altered slightly and set to the tune of "money for nothing". the song appears in its entirety within "uhf" as a computer-animated dream sequence, framed as if it were part of a music video. as part of his terms that allowed yankovic to record this parody, dire straits lead singer and guitarist and "money for nothing" songwriter mark knopfler insisted that he be allowed to play the guitar featured in the parody. as a result, both he and guy fletcher — dire straits' keyboardist — recorded their parts on guitar and synthesizer respectively. according to yankovic, his guitarist jim west had practiced the song for weeks, and, as a result could recreate the original; knopfler, on the other hand, had been playing the song for years and was much more relaxed with his playing. as a result, west's version sounded more like the original version, although knopfler's track was the one used. yankovic revealed in the dvd commentary for "uhf" that the concept "money for nothing/beverly hillbillies" was originally a parody of prince's 1984 hit "let's go crazy". prince, however, refused, and was unreceptive to any parody ideas yankovic ever presented him with. the fractured titled "money for nothing/beverly hillbillies" is a result of dire straits' lawyers insisting that "money for nothing" remain in the parody's title. yankovic was unhappy with the title and stated that he would rather have had the title be either "money for nothing for the beverly hillbillies" or "beverly hillbillies for nothing". the legal title for the song features an asterisk after the word "hillbillies", although it is often printed without the marking.
uhf – original motion picture soundtrack and other stuff