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Rock of Gibraltar – The Lyrics words | Reg Reynolds
My good friend Tom was enjoying a coffee in a Victoria, Canada coffee shop when he heard over the radio the song The Rock of Gibraltar. Tom, who has visited Gibraltar twice, once by sea and once by road, phoned me to say that he had heard the song and thought maybe I could get a story out of it. Always happy for any leads on Gibraltar stories I thanked him but then added that I had already done a story for Gibraltar Magazine about Frankie Laine and the lively tune. But then a little later I realised that although I had written about the song and the singer I had not credited the lyricist who turned out to be much more talented than I might have imagined. I went online to find the writer of The Rock of Gibraltar and up popped the name Terry Gilkyson, a name that didn’t strike me as one of the greats of the pop music industry. How wrong I was. It turns out Gilkyson was one of
the most prolific songwriters of the 20th century and was responsible for dozens of hit tunes including, Marianne, Memories are Made of This and The Bare Necessities. Marianne sold a million copies for Gilkyson and his Easy Riders (Rich Dehr and Frank Miller). Memories was a No.1 hit for Dean Martin in 1956, and Bare Necessities (The Jungle Book) was nominated for an Oscar in 1968, losing out to Talk To The Animals (Doctor Doolittle). Terry Gilkyson was born Hamilton Henry Gilkyson on 17th June, 1916 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He majored in music at the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Tuczon, Arizona. In his early twenties he worked as a ranch hand and developed as a guitar-playing folk singer. He joined the Army Air Corp in World War II. After the war he returned to Pennsylvania to work in the family insurance business, all the while composing folk songs. In 1947 Gilkyson married and moved to California where he hosted, The Solitary Singer, a weekly program of folk music for Armed Forces Radio Service. In 1949 he recorded Cry of the Wild Goose, which Frankie Laine (real name Francesco Paolo LoVecchio) covered in 1950 and took to No.1. Gilkyson then wrote The Rock of Gibraltar for the flip side of Laine’s recording of High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) and in 1952 the song made it to #9 in the UK. *[see note] For the next seven years the Easy Riders wrote songs that would be hits for the likes of The Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, Doris Day, Burl Ives, the New Christy Minstrels, and many others. The Easy Riders
recorded a West Indies folk song from 1927 called Tell the Captain and it was later turned into a top ten song in the ’60s by the Beach Boys under the title Sloop John B. The group broke up in 1959 and Gilkyson went to work for Walt Disney. He wrote music for various movies, including Swiss Family Robinson, The Aristocats and The Jungle Book and for the weekly television programme The Wonderful World of Disney. Disney, himself, gave final approval for each song and Gilkyson would have to go to the great man’s office to perform in person. After Gilkyson’s death his son Tony recalled how difficult this was for his father. “Disney would be sitting behind his enormous desk and say, ‘Play me your song’. Then he would basically give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. It was a grueling experience but he (Gilkyson) was successful at it. “ Gilkyson retired in 1971 from Disney after a contract dispute. He moved with wife Jane to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he performed locally. His three children are all active in the music business. While visiting his daughter Eliza in Austin, Texas Terry died (October 15, 1999) from natural causes. An online review of Gilkyson’s work states: “The contributions to American popular music made by Terry Gilkyson and the Easy Riders are significant. Their best remembered song is without a doubt the 1950’s standard Marianne.” Which begins: All night, all day, Marianne, Down by the seaside sifting sand. Even little children love Marianne, Down by the seaside sifting sand. While I prefer: That’s why they call me the Rock of Gibraltar That’s why they say my heart is made of stone So don’t you try to lead me to the altar Because Gibraltar is standing alone * Note: There is a very enjoyable video on Youtube of Frankie Laine performing The Rock of Gibraltar in 1954 at London. You can also make it the ringtone for your cell phone.
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2013
61