Released 1942 Label Decca Records | Genre Country & Western Writer(s) June Hershey | |
A-side Ollie Ollie Out's in Free Recorded December 1941, Los Angeles | ||
"Deep in the Heart of Texas" is an American popular song about the U.S. state of Texas.
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The 1941 song features lyrics by June Hershey and music by Don Swander. The song was recorded by Perry Como with Ted Weems and His Orchestra on December 9 of that year for Decca Records in Los Angeles, California. It was a single release (4138 A) on the flip side of the song "Ollie Ollie Out's In Free." "Deep in the Heart of Texas" spent five weeks at the top of Your Hit Parade in 1942. The song spent twelve weeks in total on the 1942 Hit Parade.
Other recordings
Other usage
The song's title was borrowed for the name of a 1942 Western film of the same name starring Johnny Mack Brown as a man instrumental in restoring Texas to the United States following the American Civil War. It featured Tex Ritter and the Jimmy Wakely Trio singing the title song. Gene Autry sang the song in Heart of the Rio Grande (1942) and his version may be the most well known.
The first recording was by Alvino Rey on November 21 for Bluebird. Bing Crosby with Woody Herman's band recorded a version that reached #3 on the Billboard charts that year. Other artists to record the song include The Merry Macs, Dale Evans and Roy Rogers, Ray Charles, Hank Thompson, Bob Grant, George Strait, and Nickel Creek. The Kidsongs Kids' ancestors sing this song on Sing Out, America!.
The University of Texas Longhorn Band performs the song during each football pregame at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium; The Spirit of Houston Cougar Marching Band often performs the tune for home football games and the Texas Christian University Horned Frog Marching Band performs an arrangement before each game at Amon Carter Stadium. Fans sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", followed by "Deep In the Heart of Texas" during the seventh-inning stretch of Houston Astros, San Antonio Missions, Rice Owls, and Houston Cougars baseball games, and in the middle of the fifth inning at Rangers Ballpark. It is also played after every victorious San Antonio Spurs game.
In 1942, the BBC banned the song during working hours on the grounds that its infectious melody might cause wartime factory-hands to neglect their tools while they clapped in time with the song.
Country music singer and native Texan George Strait has the song played before he gets on stage.