Lyr Req: Idaho (Jesse Stone)

Subject: Lyr Req: Beyond the rolling hills of Idaho
From: GUEST,Don Meixner
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 11:21 PM

I'm searching a song that has this line

"Beyond the rolling hills of Idaho, the yawning mountains reach the sky."

I suspect it is a Sons of The Pioneers or Gene Autry tune.

Any help?

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beyond the rolling hills of Idaho
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 08:17 AM

Refresh. Do mountains yawn? It seems to me, valleys should yawn. But that's just a guess.

Anyway, I didn't find anything with Google.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beyond the rolling hills of Idaho
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 09:01 AM

Caves yawn too. So do precipices. Don't know the song, though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beyond the rolling hills of Idaho
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 09:03 AM

I got a problem with the "rolling hills" part -- the Sawtooths, etc. are "rolling hills"? Oy.

Subject: Lyr Add: IDAHO (Jesse Stone)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 09:37 AM

It seems to be "Idaho," on Gene Autry's Cowboy Is A Patriot CD. But the singer is female.

The following is the Eddy Arnold version, from here.

Away beyond the hills in Idaho
where yawning canyons greet the sun
As it smiles above the trees in Idaho
to say another night is done
Warm summer winds toss a waving grain
calling me back to my home again
To dream sweet memories of long ago
beyond the hills in Idaho

(Away beyond the hills in Idaho)
where yawning canyons greet the sun
(As it smiles above the trees in Idaho)
to say another night is done
Warm summer winds...
(Away beyond the hill in Idaho)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beyond the rolling hills of Idaho
From: GUEST,Brad Sondahl
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 09:53 AM

That songs seems to describe central Idaho,with the Camas Prairie grain fields and the Clearwater and Snake canyons... But then, I lived there, so it's more evocative for me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beyond the rolling hills of Idaho
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 12:10 PM

I still live there, and it actually reminds me of the Snake River Plain -- the big smile of flat terrain across lower Idaho. (Actually, that was caused by the movement of the Yellowstone hot spot and the Bonneville Flood, but it still looks like a smile.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beyond the rolling hills of Idaho
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:21 PM

If you Google "Away beyond the hills in Idaho", you get references to Benny Goodman, among others...

If you Google "Benny Goodman Idaho" you get some sites with the song, and lots of other stuff that's not it at all. A lot of these lyrics sites seems to just copy nonsense from one another...

There is some consensus that he wrote it; whether that's a fact or a compounded error, I can't tell.

Subject: Lyr Add: IDAHO (Jesse Stone)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 04:17 AM

Jesse Stone wrote IDAHO. It's mostly known as a jazz standard, but there have been crossovers into western swing. It's sometimes sung, sometimes done as an instrumental. Jethro Burns did a nice version on mandolin.

I don't know if the following lyrics are complete, but they're all I can find:

No worry on my mind,
It's peace that I find
Away beyond the hills in Idaho,
Where yawning canyons greet the sun
As it smiles above the trees in Idaho
To say another night is done.

Warm summer winds toss the waving grain
Calling me back to my home again
To dream sweet memories of long ago
Beyond the hills in Idaho.

The Online 78rpm Discographical Project lists the following early recordings:
Alvino Rey & His Orchestra, 9/19/41
Merry Macs, 2/21/42
Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians, 6/2/42
Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (v. Dick Haymes), 6/17/42
John Hardee Swingtet, 2/28/46
Gene Ammons Sextet, 6/19/47
Ray Anthony & His Orchestra, n.d.
Hilton Jefferson, n.d.
Leroy Holmes & His Orchestra, n.d.
Les Hite & His Orchestra, n.d.

(More or less as I suspected, it's canyons that yawn, not mountains.)