‘Golden West’ and ‘Tomorrow’ Themes

I’ve received quite a few requests regarding the incidental music from The Virginian – specifically two favorite tunes used regularly throughout the series. ‘Golden West’ and ‘Tomorrow’ were originally composed for Wagon Train by the Academy Award winning composer John Williams. Frederick Herbert added the lyrics. The song ‘Golden West’ was originally sung by Ann Blyth on the Wagon Train episode “The Jenny Tannen Story” (2:38). You can view the footage on You Tube.

The Virginian adopted ‘Golden West’ primarily as piano music in saloon scenes and ‘Tomorrow’ as background dance music. Recently I was informed by Elisabeth from my comments board that these themes are available on a new MP3 album of Wagon Train music.  The arrangements are different to those used on The Virginian but this is the only album I’m aware of that features them. You can listen to short excerpts from ‘Golden West’ and ‘Tomorrow’ on the Amazon site.

Ralph Ferraro Music

Since watching this clip on YouTube I keep humming this lovely theme by Ralph Ferraro.  You’ll notice the familiar face of Tom Tryon who guest starred in quite a few episodes of The Virginian.

I always looked forward to the opening and end credits on The Virginian.  This was in the days when a “Guest Star” listing was reserved for talent – unlike today when practically everyone on an episode is listed.  It was also in the days when one Executive Producer ran a show.

Today we can’t even read the end credits as they are squeezed to make way for a preview of the following week’s episode.  But they added greatly to the enjoyment of a show.  How else would we know who created the outstanding music featured on The Virginian?