Carlos Gonzaga

Artist: Carlos Gonzaga

LP: Carlos Gonzaga Canta

Song: "Bat Masterson"

[ listen ]

A friend was in town from L.A. this past weekend, and I discovered he'd never been to the old industrial Seattle neighborhood of Georgetown! I decided to take him to the Georgetown Liquor Co. for dinner, but somehow we ended up smack dab in the middle of Georgetown Records on the way. I tried not to buy anything, but found myself leaving with this Carlos Gonzaga LP from the '60s (uh, after paying for it, I mean). I'm sure it was the lure of the blue sock—and Gonzaga's rendition of "Deep In the Heart of Texas" is certainly also partly to blame. Carlos Gonzaga is a popular singer from Brazil, so his songs are performed in Portuguese, though this LP was apparently released by RCA in neighboring Venezuela. The jaunty "Bat Masterson" is the theme song from the popular (or maybe not popular, I don't know) TV show of the same name that ran from 1958-1961 and was based on the life of one of Wyatt Earp's Dodge City buddies. Masterson somehow lived to the ripe old age of 67 in the rough-and-tumble Old West, though usually only defending himself with a sharp wit and sturdy walking stick instead of employing the use of firearms like everyone else. You can read about Bat and find some neat pictures of him here, listen to the original theme song from the closing credits of the "Bat Masterson" TV show here, listen to Gonzaga's version of the song again while watching a slide show of a bunch of his old LP covers here, and read some Portuguese-language info about the dapper-looking gent on Wikipedia here.

[ Bat Masterson: November 26, 1853 — October 25, 1921 ]