Although the song has long been associated with Gene Autry, the original version of "Back in the Saddle Again" was written by Ray Whitley for the film
Border G-Man (
RKO Pictures, June 24, 1938) starring
George O'Brien,
Laraine Day, and
Ray Whitley in which Ray Whitley and his Six Bar Cowboys sang the song. With Ray Whitley's Rangers, Whitley recorded the song for
Decca Records on 26 October 1938,
matrix number 64701, issued as Decca 5628 backed with "On the Painted Desert", matrix number 64703. Gene Autry liked the song and together with Whitley revised it and recorded it in April 1939, then performed "Back in the Saddle Again" on film in ''
Rovin' Tumbleweeds (Republic Pictures, November 16, 1939), and introduced it as his theme song for Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, which premiered over the CBS Radio Network on January 7, 1940, on which the show ran until 1956. The song also became the title song for the Autry film Back in the Saddle'' (Republic Pictures, March 14, 1941). Gene Autry recorded "Back in the Saddle Again" for the first time on April 18, 1939, in Los Angeles for
American Record Corporation (ARC), which had been acquired by
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in December 1938, matrix number LA 1865, released on Vocalion 5080. LA 1865 also issued on the Conqueror, OKeh, and Columbia labels. Early Vocalion and Conqueror labels say "BACK TO THE SADDLE". Conqueror was a private label for Sears. In the U.K. markets LA 1865 issued on the EMI Regal Zonophone label. Gene Autry later made two additional commercial recordings of the song, both for Columbia Recording Corporation (previously ARC). Matrix number HCO 1707 recorded on February 13, 1946, issued on the Columbia label. Matrix number RHCO 10195 recorded on June 19, 1952, also issued on Columbia. "Back in the Saddle Again" was also used for
The Gene Autry Show on television as well as for personal appearances. In 1971, the comedy group
Firesign Theatre wrote lyrics to the parody song "Back From the Shadows Again" for their album ''
I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus''. The song was sung by three
computer-generated hologram characters when they appeared. The group reused the parody title in 1993 for
their 25th anniversary reunion concert tour and its live recording album. The 1993 film
Sleepless in Seattle included "Back in the Saddle Again" as one of "a number of standards" heard in its soundtrack. ==Honors==