Best Western Song

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: sapper82
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 04:26 PM

Thought this was going to be about the Hotel chain!

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 01:43 PM

Well, I may have a new favorite after reading Strawberry Roan. LOL!

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Scrump
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 10:31 AM

The Deadwood Stage?

...I'll get me coat.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Songster Bob
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 10:12 AM

As requested:

VERSE 1

I was hangin 'round town
In a house of ill fame
Laid up with a twist
Of a hustlin' dame
When a hop-headed kid
With his nose full of coke
Beat me out'a my whore
An' left me stony-broke
When up steps a stranger
Said he say, my lad
Are you any good ridin'
Horses that's bad
I said, you're damn right
That's one thing I can do
I'm a second rate pimp
But a good buckeroo

CHORUS

O, that strawberry roan
How many colts has he thrown
He's got ghonarrhea, the glanders an' syph
The blue-balls n' clap,
But his tool is still stiff
Look out for that strawberry roan

VERSE 2

When a good lookin' filly
Would come into heat
Was the strawberry roan
That slipped her the meat
The upshot of it was
I found myself hired
To snap out some broncs
This roan stud had sired
They're knot-head cayuses
Just like their Dad
Most of them roans
An' all of them bad
With their feet in my pockets
Them bastards would fight
Till my ass drug my tracks
Along before night

VERSE 3

With my balls in my boots
'N my mouth full of shit
I'se plumb tuckered out
'N ready to quit
Whenever I thought
I had one of them rode
He busted my ass
An' I found myself throwed
Then the boss come around
He said, that's enough
The strawberry roan's
Colts are to tough
I'm a gettin' damn sick
Of you takin' them falls
We'll get that windmillin' stud
An' we'll cut out his balls

CHORUS

O, that strawberry roan
We went out to unbend his bone
I built a big loop
'N went to the corral
I roped his front feet
He jumped, he kicked
He snorted, he farted 'n fell
I flattened that strawberry roan

VERSE 4

Well, the boss held his head
While I hog-tied his legs
I got out my knife
'N I went for his eggs
He knowed what I wanted
He knowed it damn well
Cause he fought like a tiger
An' he squealed just like hell

VERSE 5

Well, I opened his bag
'N he let out a moan
He squealed like a shoat
When I cut out that stone
But all I could locate
Was one of his nuts
The other was swimmin'
Some place in his guts

Well, I'm swimmin' in blood
When I felt somethin' pass
But it's only a turd
On the way to his ass

VERSE 7

Well, the boss said, I'm sick
Of this hard buckin' breed
If it takes us all night
We'll get that other seed
Just then I heard one of them
Blood curdlein' squalls
'Cause the strawberry roan
Had the boss by the balls
Well, I stomped on his head
But it was no use
He's just like a bulldog
He wouldn't turn loose
I untied his legs
And he got to his feet
The boss's voice changed
An' I knew he was beat

CHORUS

O, that strawberry roan
I advise you to leave him alone
He's a knot-headed cayuse
With only one ball
But the boss is a eunuch
With no balls at all
Look out fer that strawberry roan


from http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/0733/index.html

Some of the stanzas are odd in length, and one chorus has an extra line, it seems, but hey, it's folk music. When the Sons of the Pioneers had a 78 of the "other" Strawberry Roan out, a folklorist asked for it at the store, and the clerk looked sheepish and gave him a copy of this song (don't know who the singer was). So there probably is a studio recording somewhere, as opposed to a field recording, of this song, from the 30s.


Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Midchuck
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 09:13 AM

I have a book, The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing, and Other Songs Cowboys Sing. From one of the university presses. Full of songs like that.

You didn't really think that real cowboys, out on the trail, weeks away from seeing a woman and months away from seeing a "decent" woman, would actually sing only "clean" songs? Or have you seen too many Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies at an impressionable age?

Peter.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 08:37 AM

"It's not as bad as the title sounds. It's worse."

Have to agree, Peter. I didn't realize Baxter Black got quite so "adult" with his poetry. Most that I've read was G-rated.
SC

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Midchuck
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 04:47 PM

Someday I will learn all of The Castration of the Strawberry Roan. (It's in the DT if anyone thinks I made it up. It's not as bad as the title sounds. It's worse.)

Peter.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Songster Bob
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 04:12 PM

Diamond Joe (with the other 'Diamond Joe' chorus tacked on)
Border Affair (Spanish Is the Loving Tongue)
California Joe (Jim Ringer)
Old Bill Pickett (learned from Jim Ringer; can't recall writer's name)
When the Work's All Done This Fall (trad.)
Telling Takes Me Home (U. Utah Phillips)
Cowboy's Life (one of mine, but it's one of my favorites)
Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail (I wrote a chorus, just for fun)
Windy Bill (with nothing tacked on)
Gol-durn Wheel (gotta learn this 'un someday)
Chisolm Trail (trad.)

And any number of others that don't come to mind so readily.

Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: frogprince
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 03:18 PM

Somethin' just made me think of "Colorado Trail"; sweet, sweet melody.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 03:46 AM

Welp, my two favorites are "Spanish is a Loving Tongue" and "Sonora's Death Row".
And, of course, Frank Zappa's "Moving to Montana".

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 02:39 PM

How about Rose of San Antone and Red River Valley?

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Ferrara
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 12:50 AM

"Cool Water"
"Riders in the Sky"
"Tumbling Tumbleweeds"
"Along the Navajo Trail"

These are all songs I learned as a kid (we had them on 78's) and I still love them.

Also -- this is a song sung by Roy Rogers, that I loved and haven't been able to find, but I sure can't say it is a great western song -- "My Chickashay Gal":

"Left my Gal in Chickashay,
Left that gal and went away;
There's a slick chick a-waitin' in my Chickashay home,
And from my Chickashay gal I'm gonna never more roam."
:-)

Another favorite was Gene Autry singing "Sioux City Sue."

... Just decided to look up the spelling of Chickashay and I learned that "My Chickashay Gal" was the title of a movie in 1945. We didn't see that one. We did see "The Strawberry Roan" starring Gene Autry. Also learned that "My Chickashay Girl" is on a CD titled "Historic Country & Western: 50 Nostalgic Memories From a Bygone Era."

And, I was reminded of another favorite: Dale Evans singing "Silver on the Sage." We had that record too.

Rita F

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Amergin
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 12:23 AM

Tom Russell's They Sky Above, The Mud Below

Slim Dusty's All My Mates Are Gone and Leave Him in The Longyard

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:45 PM

"Blue Shadows on the Trail" as done by the Sons of the Pioneers.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 07:47 PM

There's a lot of good favorites mentioned here but not:

"Lavender Cowboy"

"I Can't Get Off of My Horse"

"The Ballad of the Cowpuncher"

"The Tenderfoot"

"The Wild West Show"

Yippy-ty-yi-yah,
Charley Nolbe

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,musicmic
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 04:28 PM

I, too, am a Gene Autry fan. His movies were, really, musicals with a few gunshots and chases thrown in to keep us kids happy. Roy Rogers movies were as musical as Gene's but Roy tended to sing all newly written material and Gene, often, included a traditional song or two.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,Bernie
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 04:20 PM

My favourites are the ones that pay homage to the landscape of the American west,some of which have already been mentioned....if I had to pick one,I couldn't......if I could pick three,they'd probably be:

3.   Song of the Trail [Stan Jones]
2.   Everlasting hills of Oklahoma [Tim Spencer]
1.   Man Walks among us [Marty Robbins]

I visited Arizona for the first time recently,was deeply moved by the
desert,mountains,vegetation,etc....I begin to understand why Bob Nolan and so many others were moved to portray that country in almost mystical terms....I thought of Marty Robbins[Arizona born] and the song mentioned above,which was an "environmental" warning of sorts,far head of it's time....he and Bob Nolan recorded it on Nolan's one and only solo recording in 1979,shortly before they both left us........

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 02:18 PM

"Ridin' Down the Canyon" is a legit choice, for sure, but I couldn't pick between it and "Back in the Saddle Again", "Tumbling Tumbleweed", or a bunch of others from Gene.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Steve-o
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 01:18 PM

"Ridin' Down the Canyon", the great Gene Autry- unquestionably.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Scrump
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 12:54 PM

"Whopper of the West" by Shag Connors and the Carrot Crunchers is another great western song.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,cowpoke
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 12:44 PM

Ringo by Lorne Greene

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: 14fret
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 12:35 PM

The Last Gunfighter Ballad. Guy Clark.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Cluin
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:22 AM

"Song of Wyoming" by John Denver.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Scrump
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:09 AM

How about "The Call Of The West" by The Wurzels?

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: kendall
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 08:18 AM

Fast gun getting slow by Dave Mallett

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 06:40 AM

Alongside Of The Santa Fe Trail.
thread.cfm?threadid=17944#1390949

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Scrump
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 05:46 AM

"The Sheriff of Midsomer Norton" by Adge Cutler is my favourite western song.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 05:16 AM

As well as the 2 I mentioned before there are others that have also been mentioned that are definitely among my favourites. There is also High Noon.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GRex
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 02:52 AM

I have the Goodnight-Loving Trail among my favourites, also Cool Water as sung the Sons of the Pioneers.

      GRex

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Gene
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 02:47 AM

Billy Walker's 'Patanio, Pride Of The Plains' and

Rex Allen's 'Moonshine Steer'

Marty Robbin's 'Mr. Shorty'

Eddy Arnold's 'Cowpoke'
about the best version i ever heard, BAR-NONE!
as much as i do like Don Walser.

and any one of 2 dozen Sons Of The Pioneers songs...

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Francy
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 02:02 AM

"Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" was written by Ed & Patty Bruce..............
                                  Frank of Toledo

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,musicmic
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 01:54 AM

I just love cowboy songs. Most of my favorites (Tyin' A Knot, Goodnight Loving Trail, Tumblin' Tumbleweeds) have been mentioned but I can think of a few more favorites. I think that Willie Nelson's "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies..." is as powerful and believable as Marty Robbins' "El Paso" or Jimmy Driftwood's folksy "Tennesee Stud" I think that I prefer the written "art" songs to the rougher folk songs. Even art songs can go into common culture. "Home On The Range" is so beautiful that I went out and learned the other verses.
Oh, and don't forget the haunting melody of "Green Grow The Lilacs".

                         Mike

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: number 6
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 10:52 PM

I'M AN OLD COWHAND

"I'm an old cowhand and I come down from the Rio Grande
And I learned to ride, ride, ride 'fore I learned to stand
I'm a riding fool who is up to date
I know every trail in the Lone Star State
Cause I ride the range in a Ford V-8
Yippie yi yo kayah"



My favourite to add to this thread is "Pancho and Lefty" by Townes Van Zandt .... I guess this would be classified as a country song.

I'm been on a TV Zandt kick lately.

biLL

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Francy
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 10:49 PM

Bad Half Hour by Charles badger Clark...melody by Tom russell
Ol Double Diamond......Ian Tyson
Dobie Bill (The Killer)...traditional
Night Rider's Lament....M. Burton
Buffalo Skinners....traditional
Long Road West.....H>H> Knibbs...melody by Don Edwards
Streets of Lsredo....traditional
Frisco Jeans & Old Camp Bustin' Shirt.....Bobby Bare

             Frank of Toledo

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 10:43 PM

You pegged it Ferrara, M.C. Horses has to be my all-time favorite western song, though it is modern. The Old Double Diamond is right up there with it and is actually easier to do (and sounds better) for soloing on guitar. M.C. Horses sounds best when Tyson has his fiddle player involved.

Though I'm repeating from some above, other really good ones are
Old Paint (or Leavin' Cheyenne as it's sometimes called), Windy Bill, Darcy Farrow, Murder Steer (another Ian Tyson song), Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Night Rider's Lament, and Home on the Range (when it's done almost like a hymn the way Tyson did it). Another one I like because of the movie it's in (Rio Bravo) is My Pony, My Rifle and Me.

Come to think of it...I'm such a big Ian Tyson fan that everything western he does is good.

SC

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,Open Mike
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 10:42 PM

i would give a second vote to Night Rider's Lament...definately!

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Metchosin
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 10:28 PM

First pick for me would be Cowpoke by Don Walser. Then, perhaps Cool Water.....although there could prove a toss up with Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail and Ghost Riders In the Sky, in my mind.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 10:25 PM

"Sweet Wyoming Home" by Bill Staines

                                        SOL

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: pastorpest
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 10:04 PM

My favorite western songs are by Bob Nolan: "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and "Cool Water."

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,Jeff
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 09:56 PM

That's PRISCILLA Herdman, I believe. My favorite 'western' song is "Night Rider's Lament" by Mike Burton. It's been covered quite a bit. Jerry Jeff Walker has a rather underwhelming version, but singer/songwriter Alex Bevan from Cleveland, OH has a GREAT version if you can find it. Alex, also wrote a song called "Rodeo Rider" which was similar in theme and they were both in waltz time. RR can be found on an old LP called "Springboard"...again, if you can find it. Sorry, a little thread drift.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Ferrara
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 09:37 PM

Zebra Dun
Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail
When The Work's All Done This Fall
The Gol-durned Wheel

For a modern western, song, Ian Tyson's "M.C. Horses" has stayed with me a long time since I heard him sing it at the Birchmere in northern Virginia.

M.C. Horses by IAN TYSON

We were having a drink at Stockman's,
Listenin' to the guitars ring.
Jesse said "You know,they sold the M.C. horses."
"I'll be damned.When was that?" I hadn't heard a thing.
"Back in August--100 head and more."

Yeah, the people they come from everywhere
Just to bid on 'em high and low
And thereby own a piece of the legend.
With the cow herd all dispersed the old cavvy she had to go.
Back in August--100 head and more.

Chorus:

So come on boy, run 'em in. We're gonna let this sale begin.
Last of the big remudas of the mightly M.C.
There's horses here for everyone.
Saddle 'em kids let's get her done.
By the time that Oregon sun goes down
This outfit's history--this outfit's history.

So the M.C. crew they rode 'em all
And the people all gathered 'round.
One ol' boy gave two grand for Banjo.
Banjo took his trailer apart
When he tired to load him up for town
Back in August-- 100 head and more.

If you ever have beer at the Aydell Store
Say hi to Chuck and Annie.
They'll show you them big ol' steer heads up there hangin'.
When you ask where have they gone?
Hell, they're gone like the M.C. cavvy
Back in August--100 head and more.

Repeat Chorus

We were having a drink at Stockman's
Way out on the sagebrush sea.
Jesse said "You know, they sold the M.C. horses."

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Arkie
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 09:23 PM

Of the older ones, "When The Work's All Done This Fall" and "Brown-eyed Lee".   Of the newer western songs, "Sonora's Death Row".

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Scoville
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 09:18 PM

Oh, I forgot "Diamond Joe" (the one with the weird verse about the diamond-studded jaw that I put up for debate a few months ago). Reminds me of one of my old bosses.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 09:17 PM

I Ride an Old Paint
- Phil

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: frogprince
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 09:07 PM

No way I can get it down to one. Going way back, Strawberry Roan and Zebra Dunn are high on my list.(Hence THIS).

As to modern stuff, I'll second The Goodnight-Loving Trail, and throw in Corn, Water, and Wood as sung by Ann Hill, Cindy Mangsen, and Patricia Herdman.
                              Dean

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: pdq
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 08:04 PM

Is it better than the Holliday Inn theme song?

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 07:34 PM

Art Thieme recorded a cowboy version of Barbara Allen - maybe this is what Scoville at scanner is referring to, a few posts up. AT also recorded Billy Venero, which would be on my list of favorite Western songs. I'll second Buffalo Skinners. Utah Phillips, The Goodnight-Loving Trail. Kate Wolf's recording of Weaverville. Austin Lounge Lizards' Pflugerville, or Golden Triangle.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Midchuck
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 05:40 PM

Tom Russell's "Tonight We Ride," on "Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs."

Close second: "Double Diamond II" (Which hardly anyone has ever heard.)

Close thirds:

The Old Double Diamond
Darcy Farrow
Billy Gray
Sierry Petes, a/k/a Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail.

More as they come to me.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,Scoville at scanner
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 05:17 PM

It's a hotel chain in the U.S., too.

"Billy Gray" by Norman Blake, "Buffalo Skinners", and that oddball 1930's cowboy version of "Barbara Allan" by . . . I forget whom. I suppose my old sentimental favorite would be the New Golden Ring version of "Jesse James".

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 05:13 PM

Over here in England, Best Western is a hotel chain - including the Angel Hotel, Chippenham, which is used as a venue for the Chippenham folk festival, and where I introduced various singers including Keith Kendrick and Sylvia Needham, Danny Spooner, Brian Peters and His Worship and the Pig, last May.... John Warner's Bring out the banners went down very well!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: kendall
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 04:50 PM

A Bad Half Hour by Tom Russell.

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: GUEST,MarkS
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 04:48 PM

Some of the ones I do (whenever I get a set these days) are
Windy Bill - Great for dropping cowboy slang and lingo into the verse
South Coast - Maybe more Spanish than cowboy - but western nonetheless.

Mark

Subject: RE: Best Western Song
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 04:47 PM

The Streets of Laredo and Liberty Valance.

Subject: Best Western Song
From: Slag
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 04:45 PM

Weel, OK. We have the Tearjerker Thread and we have the Country Thread. Since C&W seem to hav gone their separate ways and W is lagging far behind, what is your favorite Western song?

Marty Robbins' "El Paso" comes readily to mind and old historical songs like "The Streets of Laredo" sans artist put me in a Western mindset. Others?