The one Santo & Johnny song anyone remembers these days is Sleep Walk, their chart-topping hit from 1959. But Santo and Johnny Farina recorded prolifically for the Canadian-American label between 1959 and 1965, releasing 10 albums and dozens of singles. Among the 45s, only the immediate followup to Sleepwalk, Tear Drop, was a sizable hit. Their first several albums also were big sellers.
Santo & Johnny later took their combination of steel and electric guitar to the Imperial label for several LPs and then went on to make many more recordings in Italy where they were immensely popular.
Come On In was released on Canadian-American in 1962 and among the dozen tracks was Along the Navajo Trail, the title song from a 1945 Roy Rogers cowboy movie. Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters had the big hit recording.
Along the Navajo Trail
As you can hear, Come On In backed the Farina brothers guitars with a large orchestra (conducted by Hutch Davie), not altogether successfully in some cases.
Santo & Johnny's Canadian-American recordings have been repackaged endlessly on CD and as downloads. Apparently the label's masters have been lost, so the quality of the reissues varies considerably. Proceed with caution is about the best advice I can give.
A Word About Spelling: You've probably noticed that the title of Sleep Walk is sometimes two words and others it's one. The same applies to the followup, Tear Drop. These titles were two words on the initial Santo & Johnny single releases but when the corresponding LPs were issued Sleepwalk and Teardrop had been condensed into one word. The confusion has endured ever since.
The Farina Brothers tapped into exotica music and tiki culture with their 1964 Canadian-American album Off Shore, which included Ebb Tide. It was also released as a single.
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