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Favourite cowboy songs

katlaughing 02 Sep 99 - 11:25 PM
Liam's Brother 02 Sep 99 - 11:18 PM
DougR 02 Sep 99 - 10:47 PM
DougR 02 Sep 99 - 02:46 AM
01 Sep 99 - 09:50 AM
John Hindsill 31 Aug 99 - 10:28 PM
Stoney 31 Aug 99 - 07:12 PM
kendall morse (don't use) 31 Aug 99 - 02:53 PM
SandyBob 31 Aug 99 - 02:17 PM
M 31 Aug 99 - 01:59 PM
katlaughing 31 Aug 99 - 04:44 AM
DougR 31 Aug 99 - 12:53 AM
Lonesome EJ 31 Aug 99 - 12:22 AM
kendall morse (don't use) 30 Aug 99 - 09:30 PM
katlaughing 30 Aug 99 - 09:18 PM
kendall morse (don't use) 30 Aug 99 - 09:15 PM
kendall morse (don't use) 30 Aug 99 - 09:11 PM
Sandy Paton 30 Aug 99 - 08:56 PM
DougR 30 Aug 99 - 06:01 PM
katlaughing 30 Aug 99 - 09:17 AM
Malcolm.Jones@CapitalRadio.co.uk 30 Aug 99 - 07:04 AM
Sandy Paton 30 Aug 99 - 02:25 AM
Susan A-R 29 Aug 99 - 09:09 PM
katlaughing 29 Aug 99 - 07:34 PM
Sandy Paton 29 Aug 99 - 06:37 PM
rich r 29 Aug 99 - 05:36 PM
DougR 29 Aug 99 - 03:45 PM
WyoWoman 29 Aug 99 - 01:37 PM
kendall morse (don't use) 29 Aug 99 - 11:55 AM
Sourdough 29 Aug 99 - 03:34 AM
Sourdough 29 Aug 99 - 03:29 AM
katlaughing 29 Aug 99 - 12:07 AM
rich r 28 Aug 99 - 10:21 PM
Sourdough 28 Aug 99 - 08:23 PM
WyoWoman 28 Aug 99 - 07:42 PM
katlaughing 28 Aug 99 - 06:05 PM
Sourdough 28 Aug 99 - 05:46 PM
katlaughing 28 Aug 99 - 05:30 PM
Frank Hamilton 28 Aug 99 - 04:13 PM
Sandy Paton 28 Aug 99 - 02:40 PM
Sandy Paton 28 Aug 99 - 12:39 PM
Little Ranger 28 Aug 99 - 12:13 PM
katlaughing 28 Aug 99 - 11:20 AM
WyoWoman 28 Aug 99 - 10:41 AM
Frank Hamilton 28 Aug 99 - 09:45 AM
Rasta 28 Aug 99 - 01:13 AM
_gargoyle 28 Aug 99 - 01:12 AM
Sandy Paton 28 Aug 99 - 01:05 AM
Frank of Toledo 28 Aug 99 - 12:32 AM
Dale Rose 28 Aug 99 - 12:22 AM
arkie 27 Aug 99 - 11:42 PM
katlaughing 27 Aug 99 - 10:10 PM
katlaughing 27 Aug 99 - 09:57 PM
darkriver 27 Aug 99 - 09:49 PM
darkriver 27 Aug 99 - 09:44 PM
John Hindsill 27 Aug 99 - 08:23 PM
katlaughing 27 Aug 99 - 06:20 PM
Frank Hamilton 27 Aug 99 - 05:44 PM
Sandy Paton 27 Aug 99 - 04:17 PM
SandyBob 27 Aug 99 - 01:06 PM
katlaughing 27 Aug 99 - 12:57 PM
SandyBob 27 Aug 99 - 12:28 PM
Sandy Paton 27 Aug 99 - 11:57 AM
Jon W. 27 Aug 99 - 11:15 AM
Sandy Paton 27 Aug 99 - 12:55 AM
DougR 27 Aug 99 - 12:46 AM
_gargoyle 27 Aug 99 - 12:12 AM
raredance 26 Aug 99 - 11:35 PM
Sandy Paton 26 Aug 99 - 10:30 PM
Sandy Paton 26 Aug 99 - 10:19 PM
katlaughing 26 Aug 99 - 06:56 PM
Frank of Toledo 26 Aug 99 - 05:20 PM
Peter T. 26 Aug 99 - 05:18 PM
Frank Hamilton 26 Aug 99 - 04:55 PM
SandyBob 26 Aug 99 - 01:25 PM
Tom 26 Aug 99 - 01:11 PM
arkie 26 Aug 99 - 12:48 PM
John Hindsill 25 Aug 99 - 11:25 PM
Susan A-R 25 Aug 99 - 10:38 PM
ddw 25 Aug 99 - 10:27 PM
bseed(charleskratz) 25 Aug 99 - 10:14 PM
John Hindsill 25 Aug 99 - 07:51 PM
raredance 25 Aug 99 - 07:29 PM
raredance 25 Aug 99 - 07:26 PM
DonMeixner 25 Aug 99 - 06:47 PM
katlaughing 25 Aug 99 - 06:09 PM
Mudjack 25 Aug 99 - 05:49 PM
Frank of Toledo 25 Aug 99 - 05:38 PM
SandyBob 25 Aug 99 - 05:16 PM
katlaughing 25 Aug 99 - 05:16 PM
paddymac 25 Aug 99 - 05:08 PM
Frank of Toledo 25 Aug 99 - 04:54 PM
MMario 25 Aug 99 - 04:48 PM
Frank Hamilton 25 Aug 99 - 04:38 PM
Wally Macnow 25 Aug 99 - 04:26 PM
katlaughing 25 Aug 99 - 03:14 PM
Paul S 25 Aug 99 - 02:21 PM
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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Sep 99 - 11:25 PM

Would that be wid an Irish acksent, Dan?*BG*

Shall we start a Part Two? Watch for it coming to a thread near you!

Click here for part 2 of this thread


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 02 Sep 99 - 11:18 PM

Well, Pudner, I ain't no cowboy song afisheyanado but I sure do love to hear Harry Jackson's "I Ride an Old Paint."


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DougR
Date: 02 Sep 99 - 10:47 PM

The Sons of the Pioneers are still going strong. They are based in Tucson, Arizona now.

DougR


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DougR
Date: 02 Sep 99 - 02:46 AM

Kat: I had no idea they played volleyball in Wyoming! Do they play with really volley balls, or hmmmmm?

Anyway, those men type volleyball players in Wyoming must have a lot of glistening chest hairs because you did a marvelous job of reporting your obserations.

I'm doing Ok, Kat. You have to learn to cope, one day at a time.

DougR


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs; REQ from lyrics
From:
Date: 01 Sep 99 - 09:50 AM

I'm an old, long-time cowboy-songs fan, and I'm looking for the names of a couple of songs I heard many years ago. I believe the singer on the radio was Marty Robbins. My memory is not what it used to be, but the lyrics of the first song ended like this:

...Rangers have gathered and circled around...
...my old horse is trembling, falls to the ground ...
...my warm blood is spilling onto the ground...
...and I know I won't meet you in old Abilene.

The second one was played, for me, from a record an Air Force friend had bought overseas and was called (I think) The Night Hawk. The refrain contained these two lines:

"go light on the night hawk,
he won't smile and he won't talk."

If anybody has any idea about either of these, please let me know. I would be deeply obliged. Also -- about that request for a Marty Robbins recording about the Little Box of Pine on the 7.59 -- you can buy a boxed set containing that -- it's called Portrait of Marty, and I saw it listed at Amazon.com under music on a search for "Marty Robbins".

Thank you all.
Sarah
hays-sarah@usa.net


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 10:28 PM

Anybody liking the works of Bob Nolan sung by others really ought to listen to reissues of the original Sons of the Pioneers' recordings, many still available on CD.

For the record, "Blue Prairie" was written by Tim Spencer, Bob Nolan's singing mate. Nolan helped in putting the finishing touches on the song, according to the liner notes on Empty Saddles, MCA-1563 (vinyl) by Laurence J. Zwisohn. Bob is given a co-writing credit on this album. The album contains 14 songs from 1935/36, including "I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)" by that great cowboy songwriter, Johnny Mercer(!).

The Sons were together for so long [is there still an incarnation] that it is interesting to hear versions of many of their songs recorded years apart when musical tastes and group personnel had changed.---John


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Stoney
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 07:12 PM

Bob Nolan! Now we are getting into some really good cowboy stuff. "Cool Water", "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" etc. My favourite always was "One More Ride." So proud that he was a Canadian.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: kendall morse (don't use)
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 02:53 PM

my favorite cowboy song is still Billy Vanero. He was my kind of guy. In fact, maybe he WAS me.. who knows?


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 02:17 PM

Sandy Paton: yep, that was me. Buster and I were pretty well oiled up that night and the devil wasn't bein' exactly generous. You should have heard him holler. Still makes me chuckle :-)

Sandy Bob


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: M
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 01:59 PM

"Blue Prairie" by Bob Nolan, performed by Sons of the San Joaquim. I know they're new, but they're pure cowboy. Their singing is…heavenly…transports me the way Alison Krauss' voice does. This song is wonderful--I had it on my answering machine for quite a while--people would call just to listen.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 04:44 AM

Ah, DougeR, it's so good to see you on here and able to laugh with the rest of us; you are an inspiration, dearie! Ya know, I just was at a few volleyball games, beach parties, uh.....Halloween dances, yea, yea, just a few things like that, 'cha see?? And, of course, there being NO societal restrictions on men taking off their shirts, well most do whenever they get the chance, regardless of persuasion, so...I do see bare chests frequently, even just driving down the road, ya know?!**BG**

luvyaKat


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DougR
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 12:53 AM

And so, my lovely Katlaughing, how do YOU know they have so much hair on their chest? Hmmmmmmmm? *Grin* *Grin*


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 12:22 AM

I'd like to second the nominations of I Ride an Old Paint, Streets of Laredo, and Sonora's Death Row as great cowboy songs. I also loved to hear my grandmother sing Jesse James.

That dirty little coward
that shot Mr. Howard
and laid poor Jesse in his grave

A couple of newer classics are Marty Robbins' Streets of El Paso [=El Paso?] and Roger McGuinn's Chestnut Mare.

LEJ


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: kendall morse (don't use)
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 09:30 PM

glad to hear it.. actually, I myself have more hair in my ears than on my chest.. but.. so what? (the lavender didn't work for me either)


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 09:18 PM

Good for you, Kendall. I agree with Sandy. Besides.....I've plenty of gay male friends who've got no shortage of chest hair!*g*


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: kendall morse (don't use)
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 09:15 PM

come to think of it.. where I came from, to really give someone hell about something is t "Lay Them Out In Lavender" cant even guess the origin of that one.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: kendall morse (don't use)
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 09:11 PM

If my history is not too faulty, the reference to Lavender in Lavender Cowboy is simply a type of cologne. I've heard my old relatives use that term. Anyway, I don't do anti-gay songs if I know what I'm doing.. hey maybe that's it.....


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 08:56 PM

Avoiding the hurtful until it no longer hurts makes sense to me. Looking honestly at the mistakes of history is one thing, perpetuating them is something altogether different. So I accept political correctness as a means to a desirable end. But I still read a lot of history.

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DougR
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 06:01 PM

Sandy, I join you in never having considered "Lavender Cowboy" as being anti-gay for the same reasons you articulated.

Sometimes I think it's a shame that political correctness ever happened along. I guess it's all for the best though.

DougR


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 09:17 AM

Hi, Malcolm, welcome ot the Mudcat. I look in the alphabetical listings for the song you mentioned, but didn't see it. You could also do a search in the upper righthand corner of this page, by entering keywords. IT is possible I missed it.

If you cannot find it there, you will get quicker responses if you start a thread just for finding the lyrics to that song. If you go to the top of the thread listings, you will see a "Start a new thread" thingy to click on. Then go from there. It is common to choose the generic designation Lyric Request, then put the title or words to a song in as the thread title. By having its own thread, it becomes easier and faster for people who might know the song to see it and for you to possibly find the lyrics. If you have any questions you can also send any of us a personal message, in the Mudcat. Good luck!

katlaughing


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Malcolm.Jones@CapitalRadio.co.uk
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 07:04 AM

This is slightly on a tangent, but I think it qualifies: does anyone have or know of a prison song by Marty Robbins called "(There's a) Little Box of Pine (on the 7.39)" It's an unintentionally hilarious letter-from-the-Prison-Governor-to-a-bereaved-mother kinda song. I heard it about 30 years ago, and I'd love to find it again.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 02:25 AM

Susan: Actually, I never thought of the "Lavender Cowboy" song as being an anti-gay slight. I suppose it would have been, back when Lomax picked it up in the dark ages of early Western folksong collecting, but I must have been too naive to recognize it as such. The protagonist was a hero, defending the lady's honor, and all that. He just couldn't grow hair on his chest, hard as he tried. Why the term "Lavender" in the title didn't set off warning signals, I simply can't explain. No Falwell to guide me, I guess.

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Susan A-R
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 09:09 PM

Oh dear Sandy. I have an old (probably 50s vanity recording of my cousin's college barbershop group doing "Alexis from Texas" Probably vastly politically incorrect now, but I can remember laughing hysterically at it when I was 13 or so

When herding cattle, he rode side saddle, etc.

Ah well, the memory does take us strange places.

Susan


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 07:34 PM

It's in the Lomax book, too, Sandy.

luvyaKat


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 06:37 PM

Kendall Morse also sings "Lavender Cowboy," in which our hero dies with his six-guns a-blazing, but only one hair on his chest. Probably learned from Burl Ives.

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: rich r
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 05:36 PM

Sourdough,

When I get the hiccups, I find it is best to sign off until it passes ;-}.

rich r


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DougR
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 03:45 PM

WyoWoman:

Congratulations upon grabbing second place in the competition! If you'd been able to accompany yourself and do all that fingerpicking you've had so much help on, who knows where you would have placed? Maybe ahead of first place!

Good going, though, seriously.

DougR


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: WyoWoman
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 01:37 PM

You just did.

ww


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: kendall morse (don't use)
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 11:55 AM

I'm surprised no one mentioned "I've Got No Use for the Women" recorded by Kendall Morse on Folk Legacy records nearly 25 years ago.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sourdough
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 03:34 AM

Well, I certainly should have Rich's attention *BG*. THis is the second time this has happened. Once I posted the same full message six or seven times accidently.

Rich, what I started to say before I interrupted myself was that your explanation of cowpyrography made sense and even explained how the Fife book had "original" lyrics with "burning hair". I love it when things that start out looking like it is an "either/or" matter turn out to be "both".

Sourdough


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sourdough
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 03:29 AM

Rich,
Duplicate messages deleted.
-Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 12:07 AM

That's great, rich, thanks! Now, I have definitely GOT to get that book!!


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: rich r
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 10:21 PM

The version of Sierry Petes in Katie Lee's book definitely contains the line "I'm sick of this cow-pyrography" in the fourth verse. She got it straight from Gail Gardner in some meetings with him. Gardner also reported that the name is derived from the Sierra Prieta Mountains located west of Prescott AZ. According to Gail, an old miner in that region always called them the Sierry Petes, not peaks as might be expected. Gardner scoffed at various liner notes on versions of the song including a discussion of the meaning of "cow-biography" that one liner note writer tried to describe. Quoting from Katie Lee's book:

"Oh, it means workin' with cattle, does it?" he (Gardner) snorts, "Now ain't that nice to know, since it doesn't at all, even if "cow-biography" was the right word, which it ain't! Katie, there's a perfect example of how not knowin' can bitch the meaning and ruin the 'colorful language' all to hell. The word is "cow-pyrography". As defined in Webster's, pyrography is the art of producing designs or pictures as on leather by burning with a hot iron or instrument. When I was a little button around the turn of the century the ladies had pyrography sets and burned pictures on leather sofa pillows or table covers. So, naturally, cow pyrography is burning designs on a cow's hide. In the second printing of my "Orejana Bull" I changed it to 'the smell of burnin' hair' because nobody knew what pyrography meant, and what the cowboys made of that word was fearful and wonderful indeed!"

"There you go tampering with the original" (K Lee)

"Hell, I didn't change it until 1950. By then there wasn't nothin' more they could do with it" (Note: he originally wrote the poem in 1917)

Gardner also describes where the name Buster Jig came from. It seems when he was a tyke his nickname was "Buster". His dad J. I. Gardner, owned a store. The sign on the storefront had the initials so close together that they looked like JIG.

rich r rich r


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sourdough
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 08:23 PM

Kat:

Rodeer from New England? I still am surprised when I hear some leftover New Hampshire accent in my own speech - for example when I tell my German bride that I am going out in the "yahd".

Wyo Lady: Congratulations!! Maybe you can reprise your performance on Mudcat Radio! Sourdough


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: WyoWoman
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 07:42 PM

I won second place. I have a new trophy.

Mummy would be so proud. (Actually, she would faunch. The IDEA of her daughter, yodeling...my, oh, my!)

:-o

ww


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 06:05 PM

Mmmmm, SD, do ya 'spose the "rodeer" was a New England perversion of "rodeo"?**BG**


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sourdough
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 05:46 PM

For what it's worth, I went to "Cowboy and Western Songs" by Austin and Alta Fife to see what they had to say about "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail". The Gail Gardner lyrics they use don't contain anything like "cow pyrography". Instead, it's "I'm tired of the smell of burning hair and 'lows I'm goin' to town..." It does have the "Sierry Petes" though.

Another interesting word in the lyric is "rodeer", as in "Ole Sandy\ Bob and Buster Jig (sic) / Had a rodeer camp last fall."

(Published by Clarkson N. Potter, 1969)

Sourdough


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 05:30 PM

As suggested, I have asked the Glen Canyon folks to forward an invitation to Ms. Katie Lee to come join us. Frank, I mentioned you and Sandy as enticements:-)

Lil'Ranger: welcome to the Mudcat. You will find us a respectfully contentious lot, with vast amounts of knowledge and BS mixed well, shaken down, and formed into usually informed opinions, soliloquies, outright BS, again! and various other forms of camaraderie! All entries are welcome! In general, we respect no one person as the ultimate authority on any subject (well, except Max, on the Mudcat itself, as he's the Creator & owner of it!), preferring instead to have lively, mostly intelligent discussions, agreeing to disagree or not, with huge amounts of irreverence and humor stirred in for good measure. A better and more loving/caring community will not be found on the web.

For an idea of just how caring, spend some time going through any of the old threads with Catspaw aka 'Spaw, in the title. He's one of our Resident Irreverents who almost plugged out on us this Spring and I've never seen such an outpouring of care, offers of assistance, and concern from such a diverse group of people, most of whom have never laid eyes on one another.

So come sit a spell, join in, sing your songs, and share.

Welcome to the site where "Mud is thicker than water!"

katlaughing


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 04:13 PM

Sandy, I think Gail Gardner meant cow-pie-rography. He was a stickler for detail like Katie Lee (I knew her when she wore a green dress with sequins, played a shiny guitar and went by the name of Kay Lee). Gardner ran me over the coals for not identifying him as the author (I didn't know it at the time) and for botching the liner notes in a feeble attempt to explain what I thought the song was about rather than getting it "right". He said about me, (and rightly so) "Some folks don't know which end of the horse is up." If he were alive today, I would make sure that he got all three cents in royalties for my use of his song (indicating how many records it sold). Now he was a real cowboy and may have heard some horses sing folk music. :)

Frank Hamilton


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 02:40 PM

Of course, if one prefers to omit the difficult-to-pronounce "r" in cow-pyrography, one does come up with "cow-pie-ography" which clearly refers to another subject altogether. Maybe he was tired of making boot-heel impressions in some of those steaming pasture pastries or meadow wafers, as Utah Phillips called them in his "moose turd pie" story. Just a thought.

Sandy (still dealing with semantics)


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 12:39 PM

No, the term we're discussing is "cow-pyrography." The term isn't too complicated. Pyro as in pyromania, pyrotechnics, etc. Cowboys used to read a lot, y'know.

If a cowboy sings the shape-note hymn "Samanthra," it may then be a "cowboy's song," but that doesn't make it a "cowboy song." Subtle distinction? Mebbe so, but I think it makes sense.

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Little Ranger
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 12:13 PM

How-dee. I think I might have a few interesting thoughts to add to the thread. I'm in a band that performs nothing but Cowboy music and poetry, based in Garland, Tx. I don't know much about the general procedure here, so I'll put my e-addy here (don't use this one much, anyway). rngrmasaki@yahoo.com

In "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail", the term you're discussing is 'cowpiography,' right? The version I've always known says "I'm tired of this cowography, and I 'llows how I'm goin' to town" In any case, why all the discussion about a term that was used (A) as a beat filler (B) as a cowboy's attempt at upper-class language? If the discussion was all a joke, apologies. If not, I hope that helps.

Send e-mails, threats, etc to the e-mail listed above. BTW, my favourites are "The Master's Call" (performed by Marty Robbins), "Old Tascosa" (Randy Welch [my father]), "Great American Cowboy" (don't remember the author, but it's performed by the Sons of the San Joaquin), and "The Old Chisholm Trail" (too many to list)

JW

Any song a cowboy sings is a cowboy song, and we're all Cowboys at Heart.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 11:20 AM

Go get 'em, WW. Wonder if that's the same song I've been sending by MediaRing. Mom and Dad used to sing us to sleep with, but there wasn't any yodel attached.

Okay...as Doug/Darkriver kindly pointed out to me...Bookfinder has a picky, picky search engine! If one enters just Katie Lee, not too many show up; if one enters the book title and Ms. Lee's name, same thing; BUT if one enters just the title "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" with goddam spelled without an n, there are all kinds of copies available in all price ranges, JUST like he said! Yea! Thanks Doug/DR!!!

Happy Trails,

kat


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: WyoWoman
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 10:41 AM

I'm heading off to the Old Time Country Music contest to enter my voice in the singer competition. My song is "Prairie Lullaby" that Don Edwards did on one of his CDs. It's just a beautiful melody, with a lilting yodel at the end.

Wish me luck. Hope I find a guitarist... These last-minute deals. Sigh.

WyoWoman


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 09:45 AM

Thanks Sandy, I knew I could count on you to clear that up for me. That's why I asked. Cow-pyrography makes sense. Or in the mind of Rusty Jiggs, it didn't make sense. :)

Frank Hamilton


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Rasta
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 01:13 AM

Well, my favorite cowboy song might be Way Out There and perhaps a pre-borderline cowboy song might be The Ballad of the Alamo by Marty Robbins, though it's quite pre cowboy I feel very western when I hear it--Rastaa


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: _gargoyle
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 01:12 AM

Dear laugh kat

I MUST sincerely questiion

the veracity of

ANYONE that can jump into as many DIVERGENT threads as you do....

with substance less than eiderdown.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 01:05 AM

Okay, let me go at a few of the questions raised above.

PYROGRAPHY was the old woodburning art (remember those electric woodburning sets we often got as kids?). Hence: COW-PYROGRAPHY (the proper word in the song) was simply branding steers or mavericks, as Buster Jiggs and Sandy Bob were doing before they went to town, got likkered up, and ended up tying that knot in the devil's tail. Neat song!

There's a great 2-volume set of old-time cowboy songs on Yazoo, includes cuts by Jules Allen, Ken Maynard, etc. A real "must have" that Wally probably has at Camsco. And be sure to check out the Rounder release from the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: Cowboy Songs, Ballads, and Cattle Calls from Texas. All but two of the 13 cuts are from John A. Lomax's 1930s field recordings. That's Rounder CD 1512, and Wally probably has it, too. I also have it, but Wally has first dibs on these recordings through Mudcat's shop.

Skip Gorman did two western recordings for Folk-Legacy (Powder River, with Ron Kane, and Trail to Mexico), neither of which have been re-released a CDs yet, but they are available as cassettes. He has made two CDs for Rounder. You can scout these out on the Rounder web page, or check to see if Wally has them listed through Camsco in the Mudcat shop.

Hope this helps you build your western repertoire!

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 12:32 AM

Skip Gorman is another one to listen to. Did many fine sessions with Caroline & Sandy, playing pretty neat fiddle and I think he has a Rounder CD out of cowboy songs. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Also Frank Hamilton, can't seem to get me e mail to connect for some reason or another, so here is me phone number 1 541 336 5743 anytime and I'll give you a schedule of our concerts and maybe we can have you out here. Sandy and Caroline are going to be out here in early March. Speaking of cowby music I'm listening to Don Edward, Rich O'Brien and Peter Rowan on Gene Autry's 90 birthday recording on Shanachie.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Dale Rose
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 12:22 AM

Tell ya what, Arkie, I've never heard R E K do that, but I'd sure put Tom Russell's version up against it. We'll compare notes later!

I'd also add a couple by Ian Tyson, Michael Martin Murphey, and certainly some of the old timers, Carl T Sprague, Jules Verne Allen, Harry McClintock, plus some I likely am not thinking of at the moment. I'll have to work on this some more.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: arkie
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 11:42 PM

Another cowboy song, not to be overlooked, is Sonora's Death Row which has been recorded by one of the finest cowboy singers of all time, Robert Earl Keen.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 10:10 PM

Damn, again! I just went to Bookfinder and I guess you all got there before me, 'cause there is only one left, a first edition at $45. Payday hurry up!


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 09:57 PM

Damn! I checked that same site, yesterday,and NOTHING came up! Back to the drawing board! Yeehaw! Thanks, Doug/Darkriver.

John....I think yer putting a little too much faith in mah powers of perswayshun, but I'll give it a try. I really never heard from her or her people, directly, just those at Glen Canyon, but......I will let them know we'd really love it and drop a few names she might know, such as Sandy, who learned that song from her in 1959 and a few others.Heehee.

Wish me luck, boyz!

kat


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: darkriver
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 09:49 PM

Damn!

I hate when that happens!

The URI I just posted doesn't work; you need to knock off
the "search/" part of it (use just "http:/www.bookfinder.com/")
and you'll be all right.

Sorry.

Doug


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: darkriver
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 09:44 PM

Katlaughing and others interested:

I used Bookfinder


(that's http://www.bookfinder.com/)
and I came up with

47-count-em-47 used copies for sale
from 6 different stores.

(Advanced Book Exchange seems to have the most copies.)

Prices range

from US$12.50 to US$185.00
(for a first ed. inscribed &

signed by Katie Lee herself).

Doug


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 08:23 PM

Gee, Kat, it is too bad about Katie Lee's book; but it was dern nice of her folks to respond to you, and so quickly.

Now that you and they are fast friends, perhaps Ms Lee could be friendly persuaded to post some anecdotes about the folk scene(s) in the '50s and 60s. Although I wrote that in passive tense, I was really soliciting your active participation :-).---John


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 06:20 PM

That's another one that Art Thieme did a beautiful version of, including the telling about the calico bolt getting dragged out of the general store by rowdies on their horses.

Sandy Bob: thanks for your kind words. You are right...my granddad's poems are very precious to me. He died a year before I was born, but lived on, vividly, in his writings and in my dad's tales of him, his parents, as well as dad's maternal grandparents, and growing up with them all.

Re' Katie Lee's book, bad news, I am afraid. I just received this:

Dear Kat:

Katie emailed me that the book is out of print and that she has no more. At this point you may want to try Amazon.com or various other clearing houses that carry rare books. Sorry, we had no luck here.

Sincerely,

Lori Lane
Glen Canyon Institute
Flagstaff Office
PO Box 1925
Flagstaff, Arizona 86002-1925
(520) 556-9311 phone
(520) 779-3567 fax
www.glencanyon.org
info@glencanyon.org

And, I didn't have any luck at Amazon, Bibliofind, nor BookFinder!

katlaughing


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 05:44 PM

Frank (Toledo) Couldn't find your e. Mine is Hope this gets through.

Has anyone mentioned Gail Gardner's fine song, "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail"?

The "syree petes" have nothing to do with Sierra Peaks. This is apparently some name for scrub pines taken from a botanical name. I think "petes" are geological references to sharp peaks in the mountains. Open always for correction. The term "cowpiography" is really apparently, "cow priography" which has something to do with art work representing or depicting the "American cowboy"...not sure about this, anyone know?

"Blue Mountain" by Fred Price of Monticello, Utah is another wonderful song about specific references to Mormonism and it's influence on the cowboy. Apparently Mr. Price has been the proprietor of "Mon's store" where the calico treasure on rolls were taken as streamers tied to the saddle horn and spread through the streets by drunken mischeivous cowboys. "Zapatero" is a tanner. The song is wonderfully specific. Anybody have an idea what "sleeper calves" are? Polygamy is suggested by the lines, "Say there dear brother, if you need a mother, there's Ev on the old chuck line."

Frank Hamilton


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 04:17 PM

Hey, SandyBob: Was that you out there a-ropin' the devil with Buster Jiggs?

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 01:06 PM

kat, thanks for posting this. Family gems like this are beyond price. I'm sure you are grateful for having it.

Sandy Bob


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Subject: Lyr Add: HOME RANGE (P. Frank Hudson)
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:57 PM

Sure will, Sandy Bob. No prob.

SandyGramps: Here's a poem, about those sentiments, I may have posted before, written by my rancher/cowboy granddad, probably around 1920 or so. (If anyone uses it or copies it, please be sure to keep the copyright on it. We're working on a book of them. Thanks:-)

HOME RANGE

Back from the round up, away from town,
We ride toward home, as the sun goes down.

The morn is glorious, the midday fine
For a man to spend on the firing line.
But, when evening comes and the sun sinks low
God grant each puncher a place to go.

They have taken the range we used to ride
The wire surrounds us on every side.
What the nesters don't swallow,
The sheepmen will,
But, it's home to us and we love it still.

So, wherever we wander, wherever we roam
As the sun goes down, we ride towards home;
Away from our troubles and doubts and fears,
Away from the shadows of coming years.

- P. Frank Hudson -

Copyright 1997 by Kathleen LaFrance
for G.L. Hudson Family All rights reserved

Needless to say...he was a cattle rancher!


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:28 PM

kat, would you let us know if you hear from Katie Lee?

Sandy Bob


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 11:57 AM

A few years ago, the Canadian Folk Bulletin published a neat song, collected in Calgary, called "Where the Ghost River Flows." It's the story of an old cowboy longing to go back to the range he once rode. Wonderful song.

Backward, turn backward, Oh time in your flight.
Give me a saddle horse, just for tonight... etc.

Sort of like "The Last Wagon." Worth looking for. I'll post the full text eventually if anyone wants it. Can't give you the tune though, without the kind assistance of Blessings Barbara and a long-distance phone call.

Still planning to investigate the voicemail option, but haven't done it yet.

Sandy


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Subject: Lyr Add: NIGHT HORSE (Chuck Pyle)^^
From: Jon W.
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 11:15 AM

Anyone ever hear of Chuck Pyle? I haven't heard a lot of his stuff but what I have, I like. He comes through Salt Lake fairly often but I haven't been able to convince the old trouble-and-strife to go to one of his concerts with me yet. Anyway, here's one of his songs I taped of the radio a few years ago which has got to be one of my favorite cowboy songs even though it's not traditional (I don't think):

NIGHT HORSE
Chuck Pyle

Well, you know it's hard to find a night horse,
That one sure-footed right horse,
To ride a cowboy safely through the dark.
Well the finest one I ever rode,
Was a short legged bay named "Little Joe"
When I signed on with this outfit in south Clark.

Well the night was still and the moon was down,
Througout the herd there was not a sound,
That's the time an old hand knows the cow might run.
And sure enough they jumped the grand,
Crashin' through they split a-strand,
Twenty buckaroos knew what was to come.

Chorus:
They're runnin' boys, they're runnin,
You all go run along.
Don't try to turn 'em back 'til they tire.
Just let 'em run their course.
Turn it over to your night horse,
Let 'im bring you back on home to the fire.


Well you know a lot of things that night happened,
That later got us laughin',
Though in the moment we were all strung pretty tight,
Joe Petty thought a clump of chemise,
Was a bedded down herd of cows,
And he circled round them singin' 'til daylight.

And his night horse stolen by the cook,
Old Bill Jenny set a-foot,
Cussin' at that cook as he rode away.
But they hadn't gone far and they had a wreck,
Bill's horse died of a broken neck,
And the cook stumbled through the night in a daze.

(Chorus)

Well it's gopher holes and steep ravines,
In the night cannot be seen.
He must use something other than his eyes.
Whatever birds fly south on,
I guess that's what he counts on,
Little Joe could carry me through to sunrise.
Whatever birds fly south on,
Guess that's what he counts on,
Little Joe could carry me through to sunrise.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:55 AM

If you're doin' Autry, don't forget "There's a Gold Mine in the Sky, Far Away!" Ask Greenhaus to sing it for you at the Getaway. He does an incredible "bluesy" rendition.

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DougR
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:46 AM

"I Ride an Old Paint," which Gargoyle mentioned, "Streets of Laredo," "Ridin' Down the Canyon," and "Lavender Cowboy," are songs that come to mind when I think of Cowboy songs that I like. Plus some 1930s and 40s Gene Autry songs like, "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)," "Mexicali Rose," and "Be Honest With Me."

DougR


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: _gargoyle
Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:12 AM

I Ride an Old Paint

My first "real job" (The one where the SS is taken out for a golden age so distant, it is beyond one's immediate green horizon)was as a wrangler.

Paint has a wonderful "gait" to it. Even those who have never been on horseback can feel the wonderful, melodic, lurching sway of equestrian transportation.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: raredance
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 11:35 PM

Katie Lee's "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" cassette has 28 of the songs in her book done by her with some help from Travis Edmonson. It's a great companion to the book if you can get both. I picked up both several years ago at a gift shop in Jerome, AZ. She also does "Old Dolores (The Town of Old Dolores)" on the tape. True, she is a stickler for what she considers to be the authentic version of a song, but the folk process doesn't always conform to her opinions.

rich r


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 10:30 PM

Whoops! Ed Trickett has also recorded both "Night Rider's Lament" and "The Goodnight-Loving Trail" for us. He's the one who leads "The Last Wagon" (mentioned above), as well. That fellow has a real knack for seeking out good songs!

A totally unknown singer named Arnold Keith Storm, from Mooresville, Indiana recorded outstanding performances of "Utah Carroll" and "Little Joe the Wrangler" for Folk-Legacy. His album is now available as a "custom cassette." Check the Mudcat Shop.

Looking forward to your new CD, Frank! Let us know when it's available.

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 10:19 PM

Last I heard, Katie Lee was living in Jerome, AZ. I sang with her at the Limelite in Aspen, CO, back in the summer of '59. Learned "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" then. We've kept in touch off and on ever since. She has several cassettes available. I think she'd also insist that Ian Tyson should have sung "Sirey Peaks," not "Sierra." She's a stickler for authenticity, bless her soul.

Harry Tuft recorded a nice "Old Dolores (The Town of Old Dolores)" on his Folk-Legacy album, which will appear as a CD in a couple of weeks. Ed Trickett recorded "The Telling Takes Me Home" (it's the title song of his first Folk-Legacy recording, now on cassette), and Utah recorded it himself on a similarly titled release.

Another great song is Slim Critchlow's "The Last Wagon," which is on For All the Good People, A Golden Ring Reunion (Folk-Legacy CD-121).

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 06:56 PM

I just received a very nice reply from the Glen Canyon email addy given above re' Ms. Lee's book. It said they were fwding my message on to her and that she or her asst would undoubtably get back to me; that if I'd not heard from them in 2 wks to email them, again.

kat


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 05:20 PM

Frank: Your e mail didn't come through. I think me equipment is so old that mine doesn't come through either. I put mine up with my name. Maybe that will work. If so e mail me and I"ll send you a list of everything we're doing.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Peter T.
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 05:18 PM

Ballad of a Runaway Horse (... an Absent Mare) by Leonard Cohen, covered by Emmy Lou Harris on her Cowgirl's Prayer is my current favourite. Almost a parody, but not quite.
yours, Peter T.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 04:55 PM

Frank,

Yes still doing concerts. Check out my pages at and http://www.mindspring.com/~hamprod/

You can e me at Like to hear about what you are doing.

Frank Hamilton


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 01:25 PM

Katie Lee's book describes her search for the site of the town of Old Delores. More importantly is a search for the roots of authentic inspiration to what she believes (I agree) is the finest cowboy song around and a reflection on whether you had to have "lived it" to write an authentic song. Great stuff.

SandyBob


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Tom
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 01:11 PM

I need to find out who wrote a cowboy song called "Doggone Cowboy." I learned it from Glen Bulthuis from Grand Rapids Mi. who heard someone do it out west, but didn't know if that person had written it.

please reply to tom@wmis.net

Thanks!


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: arkie
Date: 26 Aug 99 - 12:48 PM

Glenn Ohrlin, who lives up on Dodd Mountain just south of Mountain View, Arkansas is a wonderful source of authentic cowboy music. His book Hell-bound Train has already been mentioned. He has several recordings on LP which are now quite rare but worth it they can be found. He does have a cassette which is available now and then, It is currently in stock at the Ozark Folk Center. He does one of the best renditions of the Wally McCray poem, Reincarnation, of any I have heard. His book includes The Gol-Durned Wheel, describing a cowboy's encounter with a bicycle and a lot of classic cowboy songs that he collected during his years of cowboy work and rodeoing, along with notes and observations.

Bob Campbell, of Kilgore Texas, writes some fine songs which are picked up by many of the contemporary performers on the Cowboy circuit. Such songs as Cowboy Moon, Roundup Time on the Pitchfork, and Arbuckle Coffee.

A search on the internet for the Elko Cowboy Gathering will turn up a multitude of resources on cowboy music and poetry.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 11:25 PM

Now I may be real partial, and I am, but almost any pre-1950 Sons of the Pioneers' songs would be a favorite of mine.

A really first rate anthology (2 LPs)of cowboy music is "Back in the Saddle" on New World Records [NW 314/315] issued in 1983. There are 28 tracks from traditional cowboy songs to more recent ones. There is extensive historical commentary about the songs, a bibliography which is inclusive of some of the books mentioned in other responses, and a selected discography of representative works. I don't know if this has been reissued to CD.---John


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Subject: Lyr Add: OLD DOLORES^^ (Utah Phillips)
From: Susan A-R
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 10:38 PM

Utah Phillips sings a lovely one called The Town of Old Dolores, or some such thing. Tis one of my favorites.

OLD DOLORES
(Utah Phillips)

In the country down below where the little pinions grow
It's nearly always half a day to water
There stood a little town where the crick come tumblin' down
From the mesa where she surely hadn't oughta
The streets were bright with candle light, the whole town joined the chorus
And every man in sight let his cattle drift at night
Just to mosey to the town of old Dolores

Well things would kinda spin till the sun come up again
Like the back of some old yaller prairie wagon.
And show ya, dim and red, maybe half a hundred head
of our cattle ponies standin' rains a draggin.
The red mud walls, the waterfalls
The whole wide world before us
??? The town of old Dolores

Now the dance hall girls are pooled in the plaza in the cool.
It's there he used to meet her 'neath a willow
And sure sometimes a girl gives a fella's heart a whirl
When the same's been using saddle for a pillow
The wide eyed stars, the long cigars,
The drinks that Joe poured for us
if there's any little well, down within the gates of hell
You can be the boys have called her old Dolores


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: ddw
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 10:27 PM

I read through this quickly but only saw a very brief mention of Ian Tyson, who has produced a great six-CD collection of cowboy songs that range from very old to very recent. A couple of my favorites are his version Night Rider's Lament (no disrespect, Art, I've just never heard yours) and Sierra Peaks, but I'd be hard-pressed to even pick a favorite album out of the bunch, let alone a few songs. I guess I do like the first three albums best -- he goes a little too far electric/country later. But they're still worth looking up. I don't recall all the titles, but one (the third, I think) is Cowboyography, one is just Ian Tyson, one is Old Corrals and Sagebrush (that's the first) and a later one is 18 Inches of Rain.

I haven't looked for them, but I'd bet there are songbooks spinning out of the albums. Worth a check.

cheers

ddw


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 10:14 PM

Did anyone mention "Streets of Laredo"? I can't hear that song without thinking of the movie "Bang the Drum Slowly," the best baseball movie ever--with a truly amazing performance by Robert De Niro as a catcher who is dying of cancer--after the team learns the catcher is sick, he leads them in singing the song.

Another one I didn't see above is "I Ride an Old Paint." And how about "Git Along, Little Dogies"? --seed


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: John Hindsill
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 07:51 PM

Re: Katie Lee

I thought I was the only one who ever heard of her, but then my universe is very tiny. I have a very old vinyl of hers, "Songs of Couch & Consultation"

"Ten Thousand Goddam{sic}Cattle" may be out of print, but Ms Lee may, perhaps, be reached through the Glen Canyon Institute at--www.info@glencanyon.org--. Though she is quickly approaching 80, she is apparently very active with this group. Maybe she can direct you to a copy of this book.

Good luck--John


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: raredance
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 07:29 PM

OK so it's Guy Logsdon


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: raredance
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 07:26 PM

I love the Katie Lee book, it's fun to read right through.

Here are some other books that haven't been mentioned yet in this thread.

"The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing" And Other Songs Cowboys Sing by Gut Logsdon (1989, 1995 paperback University of Illinois Press ISBN 0-252-06488-7)

Songs of the Wild West sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Simon & Shuster 1991 ISBN 0-671-74775-4)

Songs of the Great American West by Irwin Silber (1967, Dover Edition reprint 1995 ISBN 0-486-28704-1)

The Hell-Bound Train by Glenn Ohrlin (1973, 1989 paperback, Univwersity of Illinois Press ISBN 0-252-06071-7)

Cowboy and Western Songs by Austin and Alta Fife (1969 Creative Concepts PUblishing ISBN 1-56922-003-4)

Songs of the American West by LIngenfelter, Dwyer & Cohen (1968 Univ of California Press Lib Cong. 67-12220)

Songs of trhe Cowboys by N Howard "Jack" Thorpe. This was the first printed compilation of cowboy songs in 1908. Thorpe revised and expanded it in 1921. There has been considerable discussion over the years whether Lomax swiped some of Thorpe's material for his 1910 first edition of cowboy songs. Neither of Thorpe's books contains any music and a number of the songs were written by Thorpe himself, the most famous probably "Little Joe the Wrangler". The 1921 Thorpe edition was reprinted in 1984 by Univ. of Nebraska Press ISBN 0-8032-9403-4. The 1908 version of Thorpe was reprinted in 1966 with extensive commentary, additional texts and tunes by Austin and Alta Fife.

He Was Singin' This Song by Jim Bob Tinsley (1981 University of Central Florida, University Presses of Florida ISBN 0-8130-0683-X)

rich r


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: DonMeixner
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 06:47 PM

"Short Grass" by Ian Tyson

"Make Me a Cowboy Again for a Day" from the PBS Special 'The History of the English Language'

"Billy Vanero" from Art Thieme

"Alongside the Santa Fe Trail" also from Art

"Blue Bonnet Girl" Sons of the Pioneers

"Night Rider's Lament" Don Edwards version

"Diamond Joe" by P. Domain

"The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be" Tom Lerher

and 50 or 60 others I haven't mentioned.

Don


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 06:09 PM

The words to Night Rider's Lament are in the DT.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Mudjack
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:49 PM

My two favorites are Night Rider's Lament and The Goodnight-Loving Trail; the first penned by Alaskan writer Michael Burton (see Nancy Griffin's @ OLGA) and the second penned by Utah Phillips. I'm not sure where to find that one. Both are newer cowboy songs but color a perfect picture of what the cowboy endures.
Mudjack


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:38 PM

I have an old paperback collection of cowboy songs entitled "Traditional and Modern Cowboy Songs" dated 1932 and published by Paul-Pioneer Music Co., New York. It has a version of Utah Carroll with eight verses and quite different from the one I have by Don Edwards, Slim Critchlow, and Harry McClintock.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: SandyBob
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:16 PM

One of my favorite cowboy songbooks is "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" by Katie Lee. ( ASIN: 0873581482 ) The book is out of print but worth finding. Great songs and great history.

SandyBob


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:16 PM

There's another book I forgot about that my dad recommends called "He Was Singing This Song".


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: paddymac
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:08 PM

A great book on the topic is "For A Cowboy Has To Sing" by Jim Bob Tinsley; University of Florida Press; ISBN 0-8130-1052-8. Sixty great songs from the late 1800's to the 1940's. I guess you'd say they mostly started out as popular songs, but became so well-known that they have passed into the folk idiom (copyright questions aside).


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:54 PM

Don Edwards on Shanachie A CD titled Saddle Songs and Slim Criitchlow on Arhoolie. Two invaluable collections....From Frank to Frank; are you still doing concerts. Would like to touch base and let you know about our concert series.


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: MMario
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:48 PM

Searching the DT with "@cowboy" gives 130 hits. Seems like a good place to start


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:38 PM

Hi,

I have just recorded four on my new CD coming out in September.

Utah Carroll
Sam Bass
The Buffalo Skinners
The Brazos River (Rivers of Texas)

Frank Hamilton


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Wally Macnow
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:26 PM

You can find a number of good recordings of cowboy songs here


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Subject: RE: Favourite cowboy songs
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 03:14 PM

I think there's bean a couple of threads on this. You might do a forum search for more. My dad sang us all the old cowboy songs he learned as a kid growing up on a ranch in Colorado. Most of them can be found in the reprint edition of Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads collected by John A. & Alan Lomax. The reprint I have came out in 1986 and is published by Macmillan Pub. Co.

Some of my personal favourites include The Strawberry Roan; When the Work's All Done This Fall; Zebra Dun; Little Joe the Wrangler; and Billy Vanero. I just learned a new one I'd never heard before, which was done beautifully by the Mudcat's own Art Thieme called Night Rider's Lament. He also did a couple of others which are really pretty including Blue Mountain and The Cowboy's Barbara Allen. I think most of these should be in the Digitrad Database. In case you are not familiar with it, just look up in the top right of this page and choose either to type in a title and click on "go", or look it up alphabetically. There are literally thousands of song lyrics in the database.

For some cowboy midi files click here

Most of us have a program called MediaRing, which allows us to send voice messages up to 15 minutes long for FREE to someones email address or the telephone number for their computer. If you would like to hear any of the tunes to the above, send me a personal message, through the Mudcat, with your email address and/or phone number & I will do my best (voice only).

Also, my dad is making a new tape of cowboy songs for me and one other Mudcatter who'd expressed an interest. It is just done on a little 4 track home outfit, but he's 82, has been doing it since he was a little kid and has his own amazing database of songs in his head. He plays banjo, guitar, mandolin, keyboard, and fiddle. Ssome of the ones in the DigiTrad may have midi files to click on to hear, also.

Happy Trails,

katlaughing


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Subject: Favourite cowboy songs
From: Paul S
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 02:21 PM

I've just learned a couple of Woody Guthrie's cowboy songs: "Philadelphia Lawyer", and "Lay Down, Little Dogies". I love this stuff and need to learn more.

Please, tell me your favourite cowboy songs, and where I can find the lyrics and music.

Thanks
[Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]


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