Lyr Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill / San Antonio

Subject: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: Bob Taylor
Date: 08 Feb 04 - 05:41 PM

Years ago, my grandfather use to sing a song to me. All I remember is the tune, and the first line or two of the lyrics.

"There was a cowboy and his partner Bill,
Cowboy was feeling blue..."

Anyone remember anything like that from the early '50s?

Thanks,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: Bob Taylor
Date: 08 Feb 04 - 09:03 PM

Memories are improving. I think it starts out like this.

Just as the sun was setting over the hill,
After the work was thru.
There was a cowboy and his partner Bill,
Cowboy was feeling blue.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks again,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Feb 04 - 09:23 PM

I've tried using Google with several phrases from your quote, and come up with nothing. Maybe somebody will recognize the song.

Have you ever heard a recording of that song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 11:47 AM

Bob, I asked my dad about this. He remembers it, thinks he only heard it once or so, but, sorry to say, cannot remember the words. Now, he's hoping someone will know them, too, as his curiosity is up.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: Bob Taylor
Date: 13 Feb 04 - 09:52 PM

Jim and Kat,

Thanks for trying. I've only ever heard it from my grandfather. He would play and sing it for me when I was just a little tyke.

He had an old Silvertone, archtop, f-hole, steelstring. I sure wish I knew what happened to that guitar.

I've tried and tried to find it on the net, but to no avail.

Thanks,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 12:48 AM

Someone's just got to know this one!:-) Bob, have you checked through the lyrics links in the Mudcat LINKS? I checked Cowpie with a few keywords, but nada. Let's keep looking and/or maybe someone will see this and recognise it.

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 12:29 PM

Someone hurry up and find this one. I (vaguely) remember it too. The title didn't mention Bill, and I think this is why it hasn't been found yet. They were looking for something to do or someplace to go?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: Bob Taylor
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 08:30 PM

Well our flurry of activity seems to have slowed to a crawl. Maybe someone will help, but I'm starting to lose hope...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From:
Date: 01 Jul 04 - 12:48 AM

This dates back to possibly early 1900's. I can't remember it all, but my Dad taught it to me in the early 1940's. I remember it as:

Just as the moon came peeping over the hill,
After the work was through,
There sat a cowboy and his partner Bill.
Cowboy was feeling blue.
Bill said, "come down, Pal, down into town, pal.
Big time for me and you.
Don't mind your old gal, for she is cold, pal,
And what you say is true."
"Where is she now?" Bill cried, and his partner just replied,
"San Antone and Tonio.
She hopped upon a pony, and rode away with Tony,
But if you see her, just let me know,
And I'll see her in San Antonio.
You know that pony that she rode away,
That horse belonged to me.
Also those trinkets that she stole away,
I was the big Marquee.
I don't repent it, I might have spent it
Down at the Farro Jack's,
So if you see her, tell her I love her
And tell her I'll take her back.
For no other cowboy will ever love her like her Bill,
And I'll meet her in San Antonio.

Subject: Lyr Add: SAN ANTONIO (Williams, Van Alstyne, 1907)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Jul 04 - 01:57 PM

Found it! At the The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music -

SAN ANTONIO
Words, Harry Williams. Music, Egbert Van Alstyne. 1907.

1. Just as the moon was peeping o'er the hill,
After the work was through,
There sat a cowboy and his partner Bill.
Cowboy was feeling blue.
Bill says, "Come down, Pal,
Down into town, Pal.
Big time for me and you.
Don't mind your old gal. You know it's cold, pal,
If what you say is true."
"Where is she now?" Bill cried,
And his partner just replied:

CHORUS: San Antoni Antonio.
She hopped up on a pony, and ran away with Tony,
If you see her, just let me know,
And I'll meet you in San Antonio.

2. You know that pony that she rode away?
That horse belongs to me.
So do the trinkets that she stow'd away.
I was the big mark E.
I won't resent it.
I might have spent it
Plunging with Faro Jack.
If she's not happy there with her chappie,
Tell her I'll take her back.
No tenderfoot like him
Could love her like her boy Jim. CHORUS

[The sheet music shows only the copyright date, not the actual date of printing. The Levy collection has 3 editions of the sheet music, so it looks as if the song was revived a couple of times after its first appearance:

This copy shows the cover only. It's rather plain. It's marked "As Produced in Mr. B.C. Whitney's 'Isle of Bong Bong' ".

This copy is complete, and it has a nice painting on the cover.

This copy has only the chorus. It's marked "As Sung and Featured by Ethel Levey," and bears a rather appealing photograph of her in a western costume.

AMG - All Music Guide lists one recent reissue of a recording by Billy Murray on the various-artists compilation "1907: Dear Old Golden Rule Days," Archeophone CD 9008, 2003. Click here to play a RealPlayer file.

The tune was used in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. More info on this page.]

---

Notice sent to requestor.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Jul 04 - 02:28 PM

Thanks! This one has had fragments careening around in my head, but I was not smart enough to try that title.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jul 04 - 11:30 PM

Recorded by "Fred Newman" for Paramount, May 1929. It was actually a Roy Harvey vocal with the rest of the North Carolina Ramblers BIG band, Roy g, Odell Smith f, Lucy Terry p, Charlie Poole b.

Available on Roy Harvey, Volume 3, Document 8052.

I'd have come up with this earlier, except I hadn't seen the thread. Don't get around much anymore, as they say.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 04 Jul 04 - 11:35 PM

. . . and that guest was me. Sometimes I forget. This one I looked back at because I wanted to see how the lyrics compare. I'll do that now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 05 Jul 04 - 06:54 PM

A better copy of the sheet music is at the University of Colorado.

Lots of other good things to explore there, too.

Aside: I suppose it is too much wishful thinking, but it would really be nice if JHU would modernize the Levy site. Way too much good stuff there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 05 Jul 04 - 06:59 PM

Should have mentioned that there is a second copy at the Colorado site, but the cover is not nearly so nice, though I suppose that depends on your point of view. It depicts a cowgirl sitting there smoking, with her cards laid out in front of her. (This and the one I linked in my previous post are the latter two from Levy mentioned by Jim)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: Bob Taylor
Date: 05 Jul 04 - 09:34 PM

WOW - you guys (and gals) are great! This is the song my Grandfather would sing when I was just a little tyke. Having a link to the sheet music was simply beyond belief. I doubt my Grandfather played it as shown in the key of A flat (I doubt I'll play it there either).

I'll quickly learn this and pass it on to my grandkids. How cool is that?

Special thanks to Joe Offer who contacted me and let me know the thread had come alive again. He also forwarded an MP3 file which simply blew me away. Thanks again Joe.

Thanks again to everyone.

Bob Taylor

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 05 Jul 04 - 11:32 PM

I do hate to keep coming up with something I forgot before, but in reading over my first post, I see I had a serious omission in the North Carolina Ramblers Big band lineup. I left off Lonnie Austin, the other fiddler in the group. No excuse there, just sloppiness. Now many wouldn't care about knowing such, but some would, so there it is.

Columbia, the usual record company of the NCR refused to let Charlie Poole record any other way than the tried and true trio of bgf, with Poole, Harvey, & Austin. Lucky for us all that they got mad and went down the street to Paramount, even if the recording does sound like it was made on sandpaper.

We do owe mrimpeller a great deal for coming up with so much of the words after the thread was basically dead, giving enough info that Jim was able to solve the whole puzzle a few days later. It wasn't until he posted that I even looked into the thread and said, hey, I KNOW this one!

That Billy Murray soundfile was complete, too ~~ I did not expect that. It was very . . . well, Billy Murrayish, a good contrast to the Fred Newman/Roy Harvey/NCR recording of several years later.

Anyone else who wants the Fred Newman can have it for the asking.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: GUEST,san antonio
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 10:11 AM

I came across an old postcard of a somewhat forlorn looking cowgirl with "she hopped upon a pony and ran away with Tony..." lyrics on it that you might find entertaining.

http://www.postcardsfromsanantonio.com/longhorns.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: nileview
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 04:52 PM

I'm new here but so glad to find this thread! My 80 yr. old father sings the chorus of this to my son. I'm living in Egypt now and he's in Texas so it's fun to listen to recordings of the song when I can't be with him.

Dale--tried sending you a PM but you were logged in as a guest. I'd really like to hear the Fred Newman/Roy Harvey recording if you have it. Not sure about forum etiquette but if you send me a PM can I give you my email and you send it to me?

Thanks to everyone who contributed here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 08:38 PM

No problem ~~ I have a hotmail address that I give out freely. I rarely ever sign in here anymore, though I have been posting since 1997. I'll be glad to send you a copy. [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cowboy and Partner Bill
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 11:36 PM

That might not work, it's supposed to be dale8r ~~ no caps. Sorry.

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: Azizi
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 03:44 AM

Pardon what some may consider thread drift, but I'm wondering is this poem that I remember from my childhood is a parody of the "Cowboy and Partner Bill" song. I'm quoting from memory [without the sound effects and change of voices that I would add to the poem]:

Antonio Antonio
was tired of lving alone-io.
He thought he would woo
Miss Liza Ma Lou
Miss Liza Ma Lucy Malone-io.

Antonio Antonio
rode off on his polo pony-io.
He found the fair maid
in a bowerling shade
a sitting and knitting alone-io.

Antonio Antonio said
"If you would be my only-o
I'd love you true
and I'd buy for you
an icery creamery cone-io."

"Oh, no-nio Antonio
You're far too bleak and boney-o.
And all that I wish, you singular fish
is that you would quickly be gone-io."

Antonio Antonio
he uttered a dismal moan-io.
And he ran off and hid,
or I'm told that he did
in the Antartical zone-io.

--
This poem was in Childcraft books' poetry volume. My grandfather had purchased the set for my sisters & me, and I treasured those books.
I particularly loved the volume of poems and the one on "Animal Friends & Adventures". Somewhere somehow I lost the poetry volume, but I still have the volume on Animal Friends... That book was published in 1954 by Field Enterprises, Chicago.

Does anyone know this poem and its writer? The name "Ogden Nash" has popped into my head, but I don't know this is one of his poems.

Is this related in any way to "Cowboy and Partner Bill {San Antonio}?"

Thank you.

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: GUEST,postcardsfromsanantonio
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 08:41 AM

I came across another set of old black and white postcards featuring this song. The amusing vignettes were titled "Anglo Life Series" and dated 1909. Thought you might be interested because that date places the existence and popularity of the song a bit earlier than the sheet music indicates. I have the first of the series up at the bottom of this page, www.postcardsfromsanantonio.com/longhorns.htm.

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 01:26 PM

Interesting set. The sheet music is copyright 1907, so the song became popular fairly quickly.

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: GUEST,Gordon
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 02:33 PM

Greetings,

Want to send a big thanks to "Dale" who helped solve a long standing mystery for me regarding Fred Newman's version of San Antonio. I now know why some sources list it as Roy Harvey and others as Charlie Poole. Wonderful stuff.

All the best,
Gordon

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 11:34 AM

Bob:

Seems it's been years since anyone posted in this thread...but the song appears on Tex Johnson and His Six Shooters Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas album. Email me if you want a copy. My email is: [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: Goose Gander
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 11:57 AM

'San Antonio' was also recorded by Charlie Poole in 1929.

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: GUEST,listen to recording
Date: 16 Nov 08 - 01:13 PM

Came across an old Edison recording of the song sung by Billy Murray. You can listen to it at http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/3000/3223/cusb-cyl3223d.mp3, or, if doesn't work, I have a link to the song on my website at http://www.postcardsfromsanantonio.com/longhorns.htm.

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 04:41 PM

Hi...I have this song on my Tex Johnson and His Six Shooters Christmas album. Every Christmas (and times in between) I pull it out and give it a listen. Nothing like sitting down to Christmas dinner with Tex crooning, "I won't resent it. I might have spent it
Plunging with Faro Jack." Took me forever to track down what that means!

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: GUEST,Brittany Turner
Date: 22 Dec 10 - 09:16 PM

Here's the Tex Johnson version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUpc93fphSg

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: open mike
Date: 23 Dec 10 - 12:22 AM

well what does it mean? I might have spent it
Plunging with Faro Jack? (i am guessing gambling at card games??)

the link to that mp3 is listed above in the post card message..posted in sept. '04

Subject: RE: Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill (San Antonio)
From: GUEST,Chuck Anziulewicz
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 09:31 AM

I'm been obsessing about this song since I was a young child back in the mid-1960s. My parents had many old vinyl records, and this song was on one of them. It seems that it was a fairly popular song way back in the day, and I have always wondered: Is it from a stage play? Is it from a movie? Even in the internet age, tracking down information about this tune has been difficult. But the melody and words of the chorus are burned permanently into my memory:

San Antoni, Antonio!
She hopped upon a pony
And ran away with Tony.
If you see her, just let me know,
And I'll meet you in San Antonio.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Cowboy and Partner Bill / San Antonio
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Oct 18 - 12:51 PM

I was born and raised in Texas and first heard this song in Northern Ireland on a visit to my mother's cousins (whom we'd never met). My grandad immigrated to Wyoming (early 1900's) and must have sung it to his sisters/other relatives on his only visit back to N. Ireland because on our visit, they played the song on their piano and all sang it. The entire family was very musical (Irish!) and we loved it...had forgotten some of the verse before finding it here.