<P> `` 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 . </P>
<P> `` 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 . </P>
who sang on the banks of the river
who sang on the banks of the river
Johnny Preston
Johnny Preston