| I'm Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Slim Whitman |
| A-Side: | "I'm Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky" "I'll Do as Much for You Someday" |
| Released: | April 1949 |
| Label: | RCA Victor |
| Title2: | I'll Do as Much for You Someday |
| Next Title: | Please Paint a Rose on the Garden Wall |
| Next Title2: | Tears Can Never Drown the Flame |
| Next Year: | 1949 |
"I'm Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky" is a song written by Lee "Lasses" White and Jimmy Wakely.[1]
It is a Western-flavored[2] [3] [4] yodeling song.
Slim Whitman recorded it as his debut single in April 1949 for RCA Victor.[5] It was released as a single, with "I'll Do as Much for You Someday" on the b-side[6]
Timothy E. Wise in his book Yodeling and Meaning in American Music states that while Whitman didn't strictly fit the Western genre, "I'm Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky" is one of those songs of his that had a "vague Western feel" to its theme. He also observes that it combines "elements of Western-style bravura yodeling and Western imagery" with religious elements: the song imagines heaven as a range in the sky where people ride. "Imagining heaven as range riding in the sky is not too dissimilar from imagining the West generally as a kind of paradise, as it is depicted in so many romantic Western songs," he adds.[8]
In 1948, Slim Whitman signed with RCA Victor.[9] It was his wife Jerry who suggested this song for his first recording session at the label[10] that took place somewhere in 1948[9] or 1949.[5] It was released as a single, with "I'll Do as Much for You Someday" on the flip side, in April 1949.[11] It is now considered one of his classics.[13]
After the singer hit it big on Imperial, RCA Victor hastily issued several singles with his old recordings for the label to cash off of his popularity.[14] [15] The 1953 RCA Victor single "I'm Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky" was even coupled with the same song as the then-latest Whitman's single for Imperial.
Lyrically, is a romantic cowboy song.[6]
The song was a moderate success and became Whitman's theme song.[11]