Hey Arkie

Jim Landers · Post by **Jim Landers** » 2 Mar 2000 9:37 pm

Hey Arkie, if you see Okie, tell 'em Tex has got a job for him out in Californy, pickin' up gold, all he needs is a shovel.

Does anybody remember this song? Who wrote it? Who recorded it?

This thing was played constantly on the radio in the late 40s, and I must of heard it a thousand times, but for the life of me I can't remember who did it. Tex Williams may have been the one who recorded it, but I'm not sure about that.

I did'nt even like the song, but it, for some reason is one of those tunes you just can't get rid of. I was talking to a friend the other night and this came up, but he could'nt remember either.

Jim<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Landers on 02 March 2000 at 09:41 PM.]</p></FONT>

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 2 Mar 2000 10:10 pm

The title is "dear okie"--have you seen arkie, etc. recorded by a bunch of people, but i think the best known version was by doye odell circa 1948. hank thompson did it many years later on album.

written by rudy sooter, who wrote a million tunes--you may have seen him on "gunsmoke" playing a bartender at miss kitty's for several years, or in the jimmy stewart/marlene dietrich film "destry rides again" from about 1939 playing bass. that's the one where marlene sings "see what the boys in the back room will have" and gets in a fistfight with stewart.

sooter did a lot of recording and may have done it first, but i cannot trace it to him.

Jim Landers · Post by **Jim Landers** » 3 Mar 2000 4:03 pm

Mitch, thanks for the answer, maybe I can get my mind on something else worth while now.

It was just one of those things that came up in a conversation and I've been trying to drag up some names but could'nt do it. It's probably been more than 50 years since I heard the song. That's my excuse, and I'm stickin' with it.

Thanks again....Jim