The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #101527 Message #2048912
Posted By: Joe Offer
11-May-07 - 03:18 AM
Thread Name: Robbins School Songbooks, 1930s-50s
Subject: Index: American Cowboy Songs (Big 3)
OK, so here's something interesting. I have a copy of the Robbins American Cowboy Songs: Enlarged Edition, 96 pages, undated, price 95 cents, with an address for Robbins Music Corporation at 1540 Broadway, New York 36, NY (so it's from back in the days before ZIP codes. A quick look through the book comes up with 1960 copyright renewals on some of the songs. I have another book, American Cowboy Songs: Revised Edition, also 96 pages, undated, no price, with some songs with 1971 copyright renewals. The publisher of this book is The Big 3 Music Corporation, New York, NY (no address or postal zone). It's basically the same book, but lots of songs are different - the "Cowboy" song that glares out at me is "Leaving on a Jet Plane."
Here are the songs in this book:
All For The Love Of Sunshine Along A Texas Trail
The Big Corral Big Rock Candy Mountain Billy Venero Bouquet Of Roses Buffalo Skinners Burning Bridges
Cigareetes, Whusky And Wild, Wild Women The County Jail The Cowboy's Dream The Cowboy's Lament
The Dreary Black Hills The Dreary, Dreary Life The Dying Ranger
Everybody's Talkin'
The Gal I Left Behind Me Gentle On My Mind The Ghost Of Jim Lane Good Bye Old Paint
Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane Hear The Wind Blow High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) Home On The Range
I Wish I Was Single I'm An Old Cowhand I've Been Workin' on The Railroad Indian's Death Song
Jack O' Diamonds Jesse James
Knock Three Times
Last Long Trail The Last Waltz Leanin' On The Ole Top Rail Leaving on a Jet Plane Lonesome Cowboy
My Love Is a Rider
Night Herding Song
The Old Chisholm Trail
The Quilting Party
Red River Valley Release Me The Rio Grande Roll Along Prairie Moon 'Round Her Neck She Wears A Yeller Ribbon
Sam Bass She'll Be Comin''Round the Mountain Shoo Fly! Snowbird Sweet Betsy From Pike
Taller Than Trees Ten Thousand Cattle The Tenderfoot That Lucky Old Sun Today The Trail To Mexico Turkey In The Straw
Utah Carroll
The Wabash Cannon Ball When It's Springtime In The Rockies When I Was Young And Foolish When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain When The Work's All Done This Fall Whoo-Pee Ti Yi Yo Windy Bill
The Yellow Rose Of Texas
Zebra Dunn
Looks like most of the added songs are pop songs from the 1960's, not cowboy songs at all. And they replace legitimate cowboy songs, which is a shame [well, I suppose they replace Tin Pan Alley cowboy songs, but I like Tin Pan Alley cowboy songs]. I'd say the earlier book is far better. Who wants to find Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me" in a book of cowboy songs (actually, it's a 1954 song, popularized by Humperdinck in the 1960's)
So, did Big 3 buy out Robbins, or just this series of books? Thanks for starting this thread, Bob.