Origins: The Cowboy's Dream

Subject: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 10:36 AM

The Cowboy's Dream is a song set to the tune of My Bonnie. Carl Samberg was famous for collecting new beginnings of new words of old folk songs from England and Scotland. Ehe first time that a a British song got sent to the USA was a song called O How The Money Rolls In first recored in 1905 by the Hayden Quartet with Henry Burr and Len Spencer. The Cowboy's Dream was first recorded by Texas Slim Clark. In 1929 the best remembered recording is in 1950 by Rex Allen there were other songs to the same tune but they cant be found nowhere cause some were made to kids cub and scouts songs and football chant songs as well, from Joe.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: GerryM
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 04:13 PM

Have you got a link to the lyrics, or to a recording, Guest? Is it anything like The Drover's Dream, https://folkstream.com/032.html ? or, The Shearer's Dream, https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/theshearersdream.html ?

Subject: Lyr Add: A COWBOY'S DREAM (Eddy Arnold)
From: GUEST,R J M
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 05:23 PM

A COWBOY'S DREAM
As recorded by Eddy Arnold on "Cattle Call," 1963.

Last night as I lay on the prairie
And looked at the stars in the sky,
I wondered if ever a cowboy
Would drift to that sweet by and by.

CHORUS: Roll on, roll on,
Roll on, little dogies, roll on, roll on
Roll on, roll on,
Roll on, little dogies, roll on.

The road to that bright happy region
Is a dim narrow trail, so they say,
But the broad one that leads to perdition
Is posted and blazed all the way.

They say there will be a great roundup
And cowboys like dogies will stand
To be marched by the riders of judgment
Who are posted and know every brand. CHORUS

They say he will never forget you,
That he knows every action and look,
So for safety, you'd better get branded,
Have your name in the great tally book. CHORUS

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnEC5G8H5Jg

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: GUEST,Jon Bartlett
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 06:50 PM

Very slight corrections:
"dogies" rather than "doggies" (long vowel)
"... to be marked by the Riders of Judgement"
"... road that leads down to perdition"

There's a lovely BC re-write for truck loggers:

Last night as I lay on the prairie
And looking right up at the sky
I wondered if ever a logger
Would be happy way up there on high.

Chorus

Roll on, roll on,
Roll on, you log haulers, roll on, roll on.
Roll on, roll on,
Roll on, you log haulers, roll on.

(a few more verses)

Jon Bartlett

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Mar 23 - 12:22 AM

For the record, the melody is "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." Sounds very pretty, when it comes from the lips of Eddy Arnold.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 14 Mar 23 - 12:15 PM

If it uses the melody of 'My Bonnie', as it obviously does, then it can't be any older than the 1880s when the student rewrite of Clifton's 'Send back my Barney' was adapted, the original tune being somewhat different.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: Lighter
Date: 14 Mar 23 - 03:46 PM

See the thread on "The Grand Round-Up."

Early mentions just call it a "poem."

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 14 Mar 23 - 04:15 PM

Can you post me a link, please, Jon? I can't find it in the search box.

Subject: Lyr Add: ROLL ON, YOU LOG HAULERS
From: GUEST,Jon Bartlett
Date: 15 Mar 23 - 02:08 PM

I can do better, Steve. Here's the text:

BC 07:    ROLL ON, YOU LOG HAULERS

1. Last night as I stood at the landing
    Looking right up at the sky
    I wondered if ever a logger
    Would be happy way up there on high.

CHORUS
    ROLL ON, ROLL ON, ROLL ON, YOU LOG HAULERS, ROLL ON, ROLL ON
    ROLL ON, ROLL ON, ROLL ON, YOU LOG HAULERS, ROLL ON.

2. Will there be any big logs to haul there?
    Will there be any pine trees to fell?
    I sometimes think that a logger
    Would be happier way down in hell.

3. A logger's life is a hard one
    With danger around all the bends
    But I imagine one day I will be there
    For that's where I'll meet all my friends.

4. I expect that I'll hit a tough show there
    Haulin' logs down slippery hills
    A-workin' full twenty-four hours
    To try and catch up with my bills.

5. But one thing, there'll be a big change there,
    I'll be doin' it just for the thrills
    I'll be haulin' 'em all for the devil
    To the deuce with the interior sawmills!

- as sung by Jim Kehoe; w., m., John Kehoe. PJT Coll #083

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Mar 23 - 03:19 PM

"The Grand Round-up" :


/mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=155346&messages=5

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 15 Mar 23 - 04:22 PM

I get a 404 on that one, JonL.

I'm presuming all of these songs are influenced by 'My Bonnie'. I'd be interested to know if the 'My Bonnie' tune was earlier than the student parody of 'Barney'.

I'd also be interested to know if there was a website that attempted to list all of the well-known, much-used tunes like 'My Bonnie' along with the songs that use them. I could fill a book with 'Derry Downs'

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Mar 23 - 06:44 PM

Apologies, Steve:

/mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=155346&messages=5

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: leeneia
Date: 21 Mar 23 - 01:47 AM

Up above we see

The road to that bright happy region
Is a dim narrow trail so they say
But the brought one that leads to protection [perdition]
Is posted and blazed all the way.

Me, I bet that "brought one" is supposed to be "bright one" - i.e., bright road.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: leeneia
Date: 21 Mar 23 - 02:29 AM

Oops. I listened to the YouTube. It's not bright, it's broad.

The Riders of Judgment may be Writers of Judgment. They put a cowboy's name in the great tally book.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: GUEST,Jon Bartlett
Date: 24 Mar 23 - 10:38 PM

My thinking is "riders", Leeneia. They're mounted and they are going to "mark" the cowboys (I presume, re-brand them). My 2c.

Jon Bartlett

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: leeneia
Date: 28 Mar 23 - 02:52 PM

I've folk-processed the song to suit myself, and I've thrown that verse out entirely.

Modern cattlemen don't brand the cattle anymore. It's inhumane and unhealthy, so I find it hard to picture angels or angel-agents doing it.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: leeneia
Date: 24 Apr 23 - 04:29 PM

I just sang my version on the Singaround. Everybody else was singing long, long songs that made mine seem too short, so I wrote a new verse on the spot. Here's verse 4

At night, when it's dark on the prairie,
I count every heifer and steer.
I sing to the poor little dogies
so they know that their cowboy is near.

A dogie is an orphaned or neglected calf.

The original says "Get your name in the great tally book." That makes me think of the poem about Abou ben Adhem.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 06:04 AM

For all you folks that wrote on this list of this song the Cowboy's Dream role on thank you for all your response on this song. I first sung this song at the Captains Bar in Edinburgh and I can only say that James one of the folks who work in where I live now recorded me singing this song. When i was young nobody knew this song but everyone knew the tune. Apart from Carl Sambek's words in the USA there 2 other songs set to My Bonny tune one was a song Pete Seeger sung called My Children Are Grown In Another and Cecil Houston sung a 1941 song called The Soup song also to that tune. The first recording of the song Roll On The Cowboy's Dream was by Rex Allen. My thanks to all you folks who wrote from Joe.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Cowboy's Dream
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 06:04 AM

For all you folks that wrote on this list of this song the Cowboy's Dream role on thank you for all your response on this song. I first sung this song at the Captains Bar in Edinburgh and I can only say that James one of the folks who work in where I live now recorded me singing this song. When i was young nobody knew this song but everyone knew the tune. Apart from Carl Sambek's words in the USA there 2 other songs set to My Bonny tune one was a song Pete Seeger sung called My Children Are Grown In Another and Cecil Houston sung a 1941 song called The Soup song also to that tune. The first recording of the song Roll On The Cowboy's Dream was by Rex Allen. My thanks to all you folks who wrote from Joe.