Bobby Fuller Four , El Paso

Though originally written by Sonny Curtis and first performed by the post-Holly Crickets in 1959, "I Fought The Law" will always be THE Bobby Fuller Four tune. The pounding hit version on Mustang truly defines the sound of Southwest rock n' roll.





What is there too say really?

I became a Bobby Fuller fanatic back in the summer of 1998. I was driving up I-10 into El Paso watching storms and showers pop off all across the valley from Texas into Mexico and I could smell it all thru the ever-so-slightly cracked windows of my beloved '66 Mustang... nothing smells like desert rain on a summer afternoon. The tape deck was blasting monster after monster from the INCREDIBLE Del-Fi/Mustang Bobby Fuller box set Never To Be Forgotten and hearing the title tune (WOW!), "Let Her Dance" ("Ohmygawsh" as our 3 year old would say), "She's My Girl", "Saturday Night", "A New Shade of Blue", and "I Fought the Law" while rolling into the Fuller / Fanatics stomping grounds was something akin to magic. It was one of those moments where it - whatever 'it' is- all comes together. And ever since then Bobby Fuller has been, is, and always will be watching summer rains sprinklin' down on little villages like El Porvenir across the Rio (so sad to hear of all of the stuggles that have beset this small village in the past month... damn the cartels).

According Miriam Linna's mucho grande sized Bobby Fuller write up in KICKS #6 Randy Fuller suggested Bobby rework the obscuro-for-nineteensixtyfour-o Crickets number to ride on the backside of the crowd fav "She's My Girl" on Bobby's own Exeter label. While this Fuller House studio production ain't amazing or mind blowing, it is pretty neato to see the birth of a monster. It's also notable for still containing the infamous line "robbing people with a zip-gun", which would be later updated to a more western sounding "six gun". Bobby and the Fanatics were pretty much ruling the roost in El Paso at the time and this song put them at number one down on the border.


Late in in 1964 the band made it into Los Angeles, VERY quickly taking off. By October 1965 the Bobby Fuller Four had released a string of KILLER singles on the Del-Fi imprint Mustang as well as a long player, were steadily gigging around town, and had managed a bit part in "The Ghost In the Invisible Bikini"... a pretty fast jump to the top of the food chain for the Texas boys.

In October Mustang released single 2014, "I Fought The Law" b/w "Little Annie Lou". With the high tech Del-Fi studio powering the production Bobby, Randy, Jim Reese, and DeWayne Quirico turned in an absolutely STORMING version of "I Fought the Law". Normal thinkin' within the community of 50s/60s music worshippers is that a big production is almost akin to some sorta slow death. Wrongo, snot nose. Not here. Keane's knob twiddlin' on "I Fought" is absolute genius. Multi-tracked vocals, workman-like guitar strumming, pumping bass, the steady and powerful drumming, and imagery all came together for one of the truest rock n' roll singles of the era. It wasn't 'garage' or teen beat and neither was it influenced by the British Invasion... quite simply "I Fought the Law" on Mustang is on of the purest and most powerful expressions of American rock n' roll. Sometimes production kills some of the spirit... but not here. It could have only come from this group of Texans at that particular time and in that particular place.

And those suits...

"I Fought The Law" made it to number 9 on the US charts in February of '66 and was soon a hit around the world. On July 18 of the same year Bobby was of course dead. Weirdly dead.

From the summer of 1965 to the summer of 1966 the world had the potential to truly belong to Bobby, Jim, brother Randy, and DeWayne (and later Dalton Powell). Congrats to them for creating THE 60s rock n' roll record. I can't think of anything any better and any more pure. In El Paso Bobby tried so hard to be Buddy. With "I Fought The Law" I think he just might have one-up'd his idol.

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From NBC's Hullabaloo- March 21st, 1966


I mentioned Miriam Linna of Norton/KICKS above. Miriam is currently working on a Bobby Fuller bio. She just kicked off a blog about the BFF so check it out HERE. Also, dig all of Bobby's El Paso work via the El Paso series from Norton.