Origins: My Home's in Montana

Subject: RE: Lyrics- Cowboy Song? - My Home's In Montana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 12:55 PM

I once knew two characters who used to combine this song, alternate lines, with-
My name's Yon Yonson,
I come from Visconsin,
I verk in de lumber mills dere,
Ev'ry wan dat I meet,
I tale on de street,-
My name is Yon Yonson, ...

I think you need a few drinks to get the interplay going.

Subject: RE: Lyrics- Cowboy Song? - My Home's In Montana
From: open mike
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 05:39 PM

regarding the term Vaquero
(from Vaca which is spanish for cow)
I just heard this aqccount:
the term Buckaroo is an anglified
(or bastardized?) pronunciaton
of the word Vaquero..

Subject: RE: Lyrics- Cowboy Song? - My Home's In Montana
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 07:15 PM

I've kinda skimmed this thread. Has anyone mentioned the recording of a version of this song on one of the Newport Folk Festival albums (1964?) with, I think, Glenn Ohrlin singing? Tw

Subject: RE: Lyrics- Cowboy Song? - My Home's In Montana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 07:37 PM

"Cowboys- Vaqueros," Origins of the First American Cowboys, by Donald Gilbert y Chavez, contains a section (Chapter 11) on the language, or lingo, of the Cowboy, and is especially good with regard to those words which have been borrowed and/or altered from the original Spanish.
Buckaroo, indeed, is derived from Vaquero.

Available in printed form from the University of New Mexico, but also on line as a pdf book at this website:
http://www.nmhcpl.org/COWBOY.html

If you also are interested in New Mexico Hispanic Culture, go to http://www.nmhcpl.org
(click on Vaqueros to find the book)

Subject: RE: Lyrics- Cowboy Song? - My Home's In Montana
From: GUEST,Someone who knows the song
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 11:17 AM

The rest of the song is:

yippie ki i a
git along little doggies
it's your misfortune and none of my own
yippie ki i a
git along little doggies
you know that Wyoming will be your new home.

Subject: RE: Lyrics- Cowboy Song? - My Home's In Montana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 01:57 PM

Wrong song, Guest. Your verse is from "Git Along Little Dogies." See DT and thread 67615, among others.
Git Along

Subject: RE: Lyrics- Cowboy Song? - My Home's In Montana
From: GUEST,EHD
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 07:13 PM

Does anyone know the next line in the version of the song that goes like this:

My home's in Montana
I left Indiana
To find a new life far away in the West
I learned how to lasso
Way down in El Paso
_____________________________
And this is the line I'm missing....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's In Montana
From: GUEST,Geno65
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 08:51 PM

2nd verse
When Far from the ranches
I chop my pine branches
to heap on my campfire
as daylight grow pale.
When I have I have par takin
of beans and of bacon
I whislte a merry old song of the trail

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's In Montana
From: Artful Codger
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 05:31 PM

EHD, see this related thread, particularly Q's post of 19 Dec 04, which may supply your missing line. In that particular version, your verse is split as part of two separate verses. Hope this helps, if somewhat belatedly.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,Deb in Illinois
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 08:36 AM

Well, maybe the Midwest version is a little different. I learned something like.....

My home's in Montana
I left Indiana
to start a new life far away in the west
My skin's tough as leather.......

AND THAT'S AS FAR AS I CAN GO. I don't remember any more but did learn it as a child.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,Mary F.
Date: 20 Jan 08 - 03:32 PM

Howdy. I come from Montana! Been here 11 yrs, but learned the song as a young kid in St. Paul, Minnesota. It wasn't until I went to
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Mn & learned the St. Olaf "Rouser"
song: "I come from St. Olaf, we sure are the real stuff...
       Our team is the cream of the colleges great.
       We fight fast & furious, our team is injurious.
       Tonite Carleton College will sure meet it's fate!
          um ya ya um ya ya
          um ya ya um ya ya
          um ya ya um ya ya
          um ya ya um ya ya ya!" ..... played to the tune of tubas.   
It's the very same tune as "I come from Montana!"
Those in the know...know!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Jan 08 - 09:52 PM

Gee! I thought St. Olaf was a great music school.

After all that um ya ya I dunno.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,Larry
Date: 14 Mar 09 - 10:07 PM

Here's what I remember of the lyrics from a record in the mid 1980's

verse 1 I come from Montana I wear a bandana
my spurs are silver my horse is a bay
I've been a roamin all over
Wyoming there's plenty of work but there ain't too much pay

Chorus
It's horses and cattle and a double rig saddle
a stout line a catch twine and a good ropin horn
Wherever there's ranches I'm takin my chances from sunrise to sunset since the day I was born

verse 2 Started out for Laramie early one Saturday
Spring was breakin the grass turning green
?????

Another verse had the words "Went up to Idaho" and "you can stay out of debt if you stay out of town"

I wish I could find all of them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,JUDY MAC
Date: 15 Sep 09 - 03:56 PM

While I was a little girl in MN in the 1940s and 50s, I dreamed of someday growing up and becoming a cowgirl. I used to dress up as one, sit on an oil barrel which was turned on its side, pretend the barrel was my horse, and sing "my Home's in Montana". I grew up, did not become a cowgirl, eventually retired, and moved to Arizona, where I find it is too hot in the summer. So last week I flew to Montana and looked at that as a potential for living during next summer. While there, my childhood memories came back, including the singing of "My Home's in Montana". I came home and decided to find the exact words and if I can get it on karaoke. I found both. Thanks everyone.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: Alice
Date: 15 Sep 09 - 04:09 PM

Hey, Guest Judy, you are welcome to make this your home! Summer is the best time.

Alice in Montana

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: Willie-O
Date: 15 Sep 09 - 10:18 PM

What a cool thread revival. I'm pretty sure our old buddy Meghan Merker recorded this song. Alice, I bet you know her eh?    I mean, Montana's pretty small. Just like Canada.

W_O

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,numin
Date: 26 Sep 09 - 11:35 PM

I seem to remember a verse with something about using a saddle for a pillow and maybe something about staring at the stars after a long day. Anybody know these words?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,Porter Schermerhorn
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 10:41 AM

I love Montana and have studied it all my life. When I was going there I met an old cowboy named Spike Van Cleve who had just been inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame, lived in Big timber, and owned...owned!...Big Crazy Mountain. We talked all the way from Chicago to Big Timber. He was traveling Greyhound 'cause he hated to fly. Had just written a book called Twenty Years' Gatherin's. Harvard educated with a daughter named Buckshot and a son named Tack.He offered me a job, I think (I never was really sure.)Boy was I impressed. Can't really say he was very impressed with me,although he was quite taken with my beautiful fiancee. But he was big and friendly. Here's some of what I remember of that song:

I am from Montana, I wear a bandanna,
My spurs are of silver, my pony is gray,
When ridin' the ranges, my luck never changes,
With foot in the stirrup I gallop away!

I wash in a pool, and I wipe on a sack,
I carry my wardrobe all on my back,
My fire is kindled with the chips gathered round,
And I boil my own coffee without being ground.

But then if my meal isn't very complete,
Who can blame me for wanting to eat?
And show me a man who can sleep more sound
Than a hard-ridin' cowboy who sleeps on the ground.
(I might have forgotten some of what comes next and some of this may be out of order)

I am from Montana, I wear a bandanna,
My spurs are of silver, my pony is gray,
The cattle may scatter, but what does it matter?
With foot in the stirrup I gallop away!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,MONTANA RYLEY
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 05:21 AM

NO COWBOY EVER CAME FROM BIG TIMBER

LUMBER JACKS AND GAMBLERS THAT IS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,guest Maren
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 12:52 AM

I just heard this song for the first time last year from my sons 1st grade class, and we live in Arizona. But I grew up camping every summer in Montana that it feels like I'm going home. My dad grew up in Idaho and spent the summers in Montana. Every time we cross the state line I think to myself, if God lived on the earth today it would be in Montana. It's not just 'big sky country' - it's Gods Country. The best part of camping was every morning my dad would wake us up yelling, "Good Morning Montana! We love you." We still carry on this tradition 30 plus years later.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 09:45 AM

My son got this song to learn for boy scouts and it had a verse not mentioned yet
I'm up with the sun
There's work to be done
roaming the ranges is where I will be
Out here in the west
Is the life I love best
Montana is home for my doggie and me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,A New Age Montanan
Date: 23 Apr 12 - 05:58 PM

My Home's In Montana
I have no bandana
My shoes are dull brown,
my car is gray.
When driving through downtown
I often will feel down
With foot on the pedal I'll drive away
...
With foot on the pedal I'll drive away
When valleys are dusty
My car is trusty
He drives through the blizzard
The snow in his wheels
The papers may scatter
But what does it matter
My pen is a halter for too large bills
Chorus:
...
My pen is a halter for too large bills
When far from my work
I clean and I cook
I turn on my oven
As darkness draws near
When I have partaken
Of steaks and smoked bacon
I whistle a new age "song of the trail"

...
I whistle a new age "song of the trail"
My home's in Montana
I have no bandana
My shoes are dull brown
My car is gray
When driving through downtown
I often will feel down
With foot on the pedal I'll drive away
Chorus (Repeat)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Aug 12 - 11:22 AM

It may not be great music, but it's a great college fight song (I heard it on Prairie Home Companion recently, sung by the St. Olaf choir). Here's a YouTube rendition by a couple of prospective great musicians, and already cute girls: ST OLAF FIGHT SONG.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Aug 12 - 12:12 PM

St. Olaf is in Minnesota.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: Haruo
Date: 29 Aug 12 - 01:49 AM

Yes, that explains a great deal.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: kendall
Date: 20 May 14 - 07:25 AM

Roll on little dogies roll on.
At night as I sleep by my camp fire and gaze at the stars in the sky, I wonder if ever a cowboy would go to that sweet by and by...

Memory fails.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 31 Jan 19 - 10:35 AM

The only lyrics I remember are:

My home's in Montana,
I left Indiana
to start a new life
far away in the west,
My skin's rough as leather,
Made tough by the weather
in the wind and the rain
of the land I loved best.

I learned how to lasso
way down in El Paso
and follow the cattle wherever
they roam

Can anyone come up with the rest...there were at least two more verses

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Home's in Montana
From: GUEST,Patricia Travers
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 09:43 PM

LOL, I grew up in Philadelphia in the 50s and the only cowboys I ever saw were on Gunsmoke or Wyatt Earp I think. Anyway, somewhere I learned this song when I was a kid and at 72 now, I still remember the lyrics we sang -- pretty much the same as those above but after: I whistle a merry old song of the trail, the song turns into Home Home on the Range.