 With Ray Whitley's Rangers, Whitley recorded the song for Decca Records on 26 October 1938, matrix number 64701, issued as Decca 5628 backed with "On the Painted Desert", matrix number 64703.Gene Autry liked the song and together with Whitley revised it and recorded it in April 1939, then performed "Back in the Saddle Again" on film in "Rovin' Tumbleweeds" (Republic Pictures, November 16, 1939), and introduced it as his theme song for "Gene Autry's Melody Ranch", which premiered over the CBS Radio Network on January 7, 1940, on which the show ran until 1956.The song also became the title song for the Autry film "Back in the Saddle" (Republic Pictures, March 14, 1941).