Don't Fence Me In

"Don't Fence Me In"

 
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"Don't Fence Me In" is a song written by Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher  in 1934. It was Porter's least favorite song and does not have his usual signature.

Originally written for an unproduced, 20th Century Fox film musical titled Adios Argentina in 1934, "Don't Fence Me In" was based on text by an engineer who was also a poet, Robert (Bob) Fletcher. Cole bought the poem from Bob Fletcher for $250 and adapted it.

When the song was first published, Porter was credited with sole authorship, but he had essentially re-worked the poem written earlier by Fletcher. Fletcher, who worked with the Department of Highways in Helena, Montana, also wrote the "roadside history" plaques that were displayed along Montana's highways until the 1980s.

Fletcher sold the song/poem to Porter when Porter had been asked to write a cowboy song for the film. Porter had wanted to give Fletcher co-authorship credit, but his publishers did not allow that. Later, after the song became very popular, Fletcher hired attorneys who negotiated his being given co-authorship credit in subsequent publications.

Ten years later, in 1944, Warner Bros. resurrected "Don't Fence Me In" for Roy Rogers to sing in the movie, Hollywood Canteen. Many people heard the song for the first time when Kate Smith introduced it on her 1944-10-08 radio broadcast. The song took off, was the top song of 1944-45 and became an international favorite.

"Don't Fence Me In" was performed in the film Hollywood Canteen (1944) by the Andrews Sisters with Bing Crosby. Bing Crosby entered the studio on July 25, 1944, without having seen or heard the song. Within 30 minutes Bing made the recording, which later sold over a million copies and topped the Billboard charts for 8 weeks in 1944-45.