Saga Of The Old West

Saga of the Old West
I wrote this song around 1965, influenced by the rapid pull-offs and hammer-ons of Dick Rosmini’s “Fast and Loose” (The Banjo Story), Billy Faier’s “Goodman Coonhound” (same record) and Ravi Shankar’s sitar music that was seeping into our southern California culture. After hearing the song at the recording studio, Pete Wernick suggested that it should be called “Saga of the Old East,” but since I had recorded it on an earlier comedy record, I felt the title should stay the same.

The day we recorded the song, my old favorite banjo a 1927 Gibson Florentine, had a mysterious buzz and sent it out for tweaking. I had with me a Kel Kroydon banjo and used it on this song, which saved the day and worked perfectly for the tune.