Country Pop

In 1962, John Ford’s classic film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was released and became an instant box office and critical success. The film, an essay on courage, cowardice and the birth of legends, features classic performances by John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Marvin, and Andy Devine.

The Burt Bacharach-Hal David song “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance” became a Top 10 hit for Gene Pitney. Although the lyrics were based on the film’s plot, it was not used in the film. Some say that director John Ford didn’t care for it. However, the song was an international hit and went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 in Canada, #4 in New Zealand, and #9 in Australia. The song was later recorded by Jimmie Rodgers, James Taylor, and The Royal Guardsmen.

Here are the lyrics to “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance” by Gene Pitney:

“When Liberty Valance rode to town
The women folk would hide, they’d hide
When Liberty Valance walked around
The men would step aside

Because the point of a gun
Was the only law that Liberty understood
When it came to shooting, straight and fast
He was mighty good

From out of the east a stranger came
A law book in his hand, a man
The kind of a man the West would need
To tame a troubled land

‘Cause the point of a gun
Was the only law that Liberty understood
When it came to shooting, straight and fast
He was mighty good

Many a man would face his gun and many a man would fall
The man who shot Liberty Valance
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all

The love of a girl can make a man
Stay on when he should go, stay on
Just trying to build a peaceful life
Where love is free to grow

But the point of a gun
Was the only law that Liberty understood
When the final showdown came to pass
A law book was no good

Alone and afraid she prayed that he’d
Return that fateful night, ahh, that night
When nothing she said could keep
Her man from going out to fight

From the moment a girl gets to be full grown
The very first thing she learns
When two men go out to face each other
Only one returns

Everyone heard two shots ring out
The shot made Liberty fall
The man who shot Liberty Valance
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all

The man who shot Liberty Valance
He shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all”

For other songs by Gene Pitney: “Town Without Pity,” “Only Love Can Break a Heart,” “Half Heaven Half Heartache.”

For More Golden Oldies Music                                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop music, rock and roll hits, R&B, or rockabilly songs that werewere hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

Please click here for the Daily Doo Wop YouTube channel, to which you can subscribe. Thank you for stopping by The Daily Doo Wop. Hope you enjoyed “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valence” by Gene Pitney.