"DAVY CROCKETT" Theme sung by STEVE ALLEN

Steve Allen once said to me, all seriousness not aside, "My predominant gift, is for music." Most would say he was gifted with one of the quickest, funniest minds of all time, the original hip quipster. Or quipping hipster. Come to think of it, he was never given enough credit for being hip, either. But as a musician…Steve rarely got any credit at all. One of the snider remarks aimed at his piano was that for all the thousands of songs he wrote, "can anyone name TWO?"

There was "This Could Be the Start of Something Big," yes…and some might have heard his "Gravy Watlz" (if not know it by title). But many singers, from Andy Williams to Ann Jillian, have produced albums solely of Steve's songs. He wrote movie soundtracks, musicals (including "Sophie" and "Alice in Wonderland") and made regular attempts at getting into the Top 10 with novelty singles…either sung or spoken.

Which leads us to "Davy Crockett," an unusual novelty that will have you wondering, "well, when is this going to become a parody?" Steve's serious about his "predominant gift" here, offers an amiable version of a song that was covered quite a bit back in 1955. (The flip side was "Very Square Dance"). The phenomenon of Walt Disney's version of the Davy Crockett story (as played by Fess Parker, and not dwelling on The Alamo tragedy) meant kids were buying up huge amounts of coloring books, coonskin caps, little yellow 78's of the theme song and…some of 'em did buy this one. In the photo, then-"Tonight Show" host Steve is pictured with band leader Skitch Henderson, as he's admired by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.

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