Music Composed and ConductedbyBob Young

"Little Boy Lost" Song byJOHNNY ASHCROFT and TONY WITHERS

Vocals byJOHNNY ASHCROFT and GAY KAYLER

Now available on RCA Records and Tapes

Music RecordingMAURIE WILMORE, MADRIGAL STUDIOS

Bob Young had worked as an Australian show band arranger and conductor, as well as a composer before doing the score for the feature film Journey Out Of Darkness.

He did a trilogy of films for Goldsworthy CUP, starting with It Takes All Kinds, followed by Color Me Dead, and then the last in the package, That Lady from Peking, which was released in 1971.

After doing the convict drama Adam's Woman for Warner Bros, he would continue on with other feature films, including Warwick Freeman's Demonstrator. As well as Little Boy Lost, he would do Plugg, Inn of the Damned, and Lady Stay Dead with director Terry Bourke.

Young also became an arranger and composer for Yoram Gross and his "Dot" animation features, starting with Dot and the Kangaroo, and including Gross's Sarah and The Camel Boy, and continuing until Gross's son Guy took over composing duties for the company.

He became the first president of the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) for the period 1987-1991, hosting the first Screen Music Awards ceremony in 1992.

Young delivered a typically florid and Hollywood influenced score for the film, but in a way it was inevitable his underscore would be overshadowed by the 1960 pop song that Johnny Ashcroft had turned into a hit.

Little Boy Lost had a strong run on the charts, staying at number one for six weeks, and it withstood competition from international hits - on the left the US hits of the time and on the right the UK hits.

(Source of chart, the Menzies era website, here)

As a result, it has earned its own wiki here.

As the wiki notes, it won the first 45 rpm Gold Record struck in Australia, and in 1961, the first struck in New Zealand. Ashcroft pulled the record from radio airplay during the Graeme Thorne kidnapping saga.

The original version of the song has remained widely available since its release.

Johnny Ashcroft and Gay Kayler recorded a new version for the film, and also provided some additional vocal sequences.

Ashcroft has his own official website, here, active as of September 2013.

(Below: Johnny Ashcroft in 1960)

Ashcroft wrote the song with Tony Withers, as backgrounded in this story in The Australian Women's Weekly 11th May 1960:

Lyrics for the song as used in the film are:

In the wild New England ranges came the word one fateful day,To every town and village, that a boy had lost his way.All the townsfolk quickly gathered and the wild bush horses tossed,As they went to search the ranges for a little boy lost,They went out to search the ranges for a little boy lost.

A lad of just four summers, Stephen Walls, that is his name,And nobody doubts his courage, 'cause he's hardy and he's game,But there's danger in this country that man has seldom crossed,And they wonder if they'll find alive this little boy lost,And they wonder if they'll find alive this little boy lost.

Came the night, came the morning. Another night, another dawning,And a mother weeps in silence as she kneels before the Cross,

And she prays to God in heaven for her little boy lost,And she prays to God in heaven for her little boy lost.

The little town's deserted, no-one walks upon the street,For they comb the wild bush country on a thousand aching feet.They searched every hidden valley though his trail they never crossed,And their hopes are slowly fading for this little boy lost,And their hopes are slowly fading for this little boy lost.

The blazing sun beat down upon the earth that final day,With heavy hearts they prayed to God above to show the way,When from a scrubby gully came the voice they've ne'er forgot,"Where's my daddy, where's my daddy?" cried the little boy lost,"Where's my daddy, where's my daddy?" cried the little boy lost.

In the far New England ranges there's a boy that's known so well,There's a story that the town's folk and the bushmen often tell,How he fought a rugged country, where man has seldom crossed,And a mother's prayers were answered for her little boy lost.

The song was available, at time of writing, on YouTube, here.

Ashcroft claimed local knowledge of the Steven Wall story in an interview he did for the ABC:

"I used to be rabbit trapper in that area in my wild and wicked youth. Out along the Tingha Road from Armidale there is place called Kangaroo Camp. In the winter of 1945, I trapped rabbits and that is adjacent to the area that Steven was reported lost from."Steven and his father were out rounding up sheep on their property at Llangothlin and a small number broke away from the main flock. Jacko, Steven's father said matey (which was Steven's nick name) get Bing the dog and round up the strays. Jacko told Steven to meet him by the farm gate with the big log when he had found them.Johnny told us that's where the confusion started."There were two farm gates with big logs and Steven waited by the wrong gate and after waiting for a long time, Steven decided to go and look for his father. And four days later he was still looking for his Dad.""When he was found he was saying 'Where is my Daddy? Where is my Daddy? And Bill Scrivener who found him said 'Why do you want your Daddy son? And Steven said 'Because he is lost and I have been looking for him."Johnny received a phone call not long after Steven was found asking him to help write a song about the search and he said he knew instantly "Little Boy Lost" was the title for the song."The song is really about the searchers, every verse is about the searchers and I wrote it as a tribute to the searchers"When Johnny recorded 'Little Boy Lost' it was the first country-rock song. It topped the charts for six weeks. It was awarded the first 45rpm Gold Records struck in both Australia and New Zealand.Johnny said the song was a very important song in his career, but it also had a strange affect."Little Boy Lost has in some ways been like a brick wall in some senses to other songs. Everyone compares everything I've ever written to Little Boy Lost, but in my opinion I've written a lot better songs than 'Little Boy Lost' over the years."Johnny retired 12 years ago; he's now 83 years old and says he's now the oldest young bloke on the Gold Coast.

(The rest of the interview can be read and at time of writing, heard here on ABC radio's

website)

Some of the many editions of the song include the 45:

The flip side to the 45:

The original label is in hot pink with gold print and trim, and the later release was in orange and black. Columbia 45 45-DO-4128Johnny Ashcroft with the Noel Gilmour Sextet and the Emitrons (Johnny Ashcroft - Tony Withers)

The LP:

Detail from the rear cover of the LP:

The song was on side one, and was track 3. Vocals by Johnny Ashcroft, with Terry Driscoll, Ron Martin,Marie Stringer and Wally Wickham.

Ashcroft performed the track on many albums, including a Live LP recorded at the Wentworthville Leagues Club - side one, track five, production and arrangement by Ron Martin, engineer Martin Benge and location engineer Jim Hellis:

The original version was released in August 2007 on a double CD set by Rajon, Johnny Ashcroft, Here's To You, Australia! It was the first track on the second CD. (more details at Ashcroft's official site here, active September 2013)

The song has been anthologised and covered many times. Here are a few of the Australian artists who've covered it:

Other artists who did covers included Jill Ireland, The Singing Kettles, and Warren Carr on piano. Anthologies are too numerous to list here.