When I saw today’s one-word prompt, “jangle,” three songs came to mind.

One was the Gene Autry song from back when I was a kid. It was actually recorded before I was born and I don’t remember much about the song other than this refrain:

I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle
As I go riding merrily along
And they sing, “Oh, ain’t you glad you’re single”
And that song ain’t so very far from wrong

I was just a kid, so I didn’t really understand the meaning, but it was catchy.

The second was Bob Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man. It’s relevant refrain is:

Hey Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle mornin’ I’ll come followin’ you

I preferred the Byrds’ version of the song over Dylan’s. The Byrds’ version was released in the same year as Dylan’s version and became a number one best-seller.

The third song was Jerry Jeff Walker’s Mr. Bojangles. Although the song was originally recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker in 1968, I mostly remember the version sung by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band from 1970. This song was also catchy. But I wasn’t sure I could use if for today’s prompt, since it’s “Bojangles,” and not “jangle.”

And that’s why I’m glad I thought of the Gene Autry and Bob Dylan songs first!

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Note: this post has been edited by me because in the original version I attributed Mr. Bojangles to Bob Dylan, when, in fact, it was composed by Jerry Jeff Walker. Sorry about that.