"Running Bear '' is a song written by Jiles Perry Richardson (a.k.a. The Big Bopper) and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by Richardson and George Jones and the session 's producer Bill Hall, who provided the "Indian chanting '' of "uga - uga '' during the three verses, as well as the "Indian war cries '' at the start and end of the record. It was No. 1 for three weeks in January 1960 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song also reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1960. Coincidentally, "Running Bear '' was immediately preceded in the Hot 100 No. 1 position by Marty Robbins ' "El Paso '', another song in which the protagonist dies. Billboard ranked "Running Bear '' as the No. 4 song of 1960.
who sang on the banks of the river
Johnny Preston