Song:Let's Go (Pony)
Album:Rock Instrumental Classics Vol. 2: The Sixties
The instrumental Let's Go (Pony) was the only hit for The Routers. With it's hand claps and spoken chant, the song has been a favourite of cheerleaders for years. The Routers weren't really a group but a loose collective of Los Angeles studio musicians who played on all kinds of records. The man behind The Routers was Michael Z. Gordon. He was born Apr. 4, 1941 in Minneapolis and grew up in Rapid City, SD. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1957. Gordon had two bands in the early 60s. The first group was The Marketts and they had a big hit with Out Of Limits in 1963. The idea to form a second band was instigated by producer Joe Saraceno. He had a production deal with Warner Bros. Gordon played guitar on Let's Go. Other musicians were Tommy Tedesco on guitar, Plas Johnson on sax and his brother Ray Johnson on bass and Earl Palmer on drums. These guys were veteran studio musicians. Other musicians like Leon Russell and Hal Blaine played on other Routers songs. Let's Go reached #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. The song was written by Lanny Duncan and his brother Robert Duncan. They recorded a demo as The Starlighters in 1961 and were also part of the collective I was talking about. When The Routers toured, Gordon hired musicians for the tour including Scott Engel later of The Walker Brothers. You can get Let's Go on this Rhino various artists CD of instrumental classics. Michael Z. Gordon has had a long career as a music coordinator for film and TV. He worked on Pulp Fiction among other things. He has also written songs and screenplays. But he got his start with Let's Go (Pony) by The Routers and here's a video for that song.
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