Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!

Subject: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 08 May 02 - 08:49 PM

hi all,

i've been looking for the words to a parody of 'ghost riders in the sky'

maybe someone can help

i remember one of the choruses as, 'yippee i o, yippee i ay, its the cowboy with the makeup on, don't run just back away

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Barry Finn
Date: 08 May 02 - 08:53 PM

Try "Yuppies in the Sky" by Tom Paxton. Barry

Subject: Lyr Add: YUPPIES IN THE SKY (Tom Paxton)
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 May 02 - 08:57 PM

YUPPIES IN THE SKY
Tom Paxton- Pax Music ASCAP

As I went out one evenin' down Columbus Avenue
All the sushi bars were shuttered, dark cantinas too
And I stood there in the darkness,as an empty cab rolled by
Then all at once I heard the sound of yuppies in the sky

Then the herd came down Columbus, for as far as I could see
All the men were wearing Polo, and the women wore Esprit
Each yuppie had a walk-man and as each one passed me by
I saw their sad expressions and I heard their mournful cry

Chorus:
Condos for sale, condos to buy, yuppies in the sky

Each one was wearing running shoes upon the ghostly deck
And each one had a cotton sweater wrapped around the neck
They all held out their credit cards and tried in vain to buy
But not a store was open to the yuppies in the sky.

(Chorus)

(The yuppie-i-o)

I've seen them in commercials sailin' boats and playin' ball
Pourin' beer for one another cryin', "Why not have it all?"
Now I saw the ghostly progress as the winds around me blew Till I, I felt the urge to purchase a BMW

(Chorus)

All the salad bars were empty, all the Quiche Lorraine was gone
I heard the yuppies crying as they vanished in the dawn
Calling brand names to each other, as they faded from my view
They'll be networking forever down Columbus Avenue
(Move those mini-vans out!)

(Chorus)

(I can't believe I found this--Paxton stuff is really hard to find!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 May 02 - 09:02 PM

Good! Sounds like the kind of parody Tom Lehrer used to do.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Jeri
Date: 08 May 02 - 09:26 PM

And each one held a cell phone to his ear so he could talk
To his distant buddy exiled to the far end of the block...

er, attention span shift. Anybody else come up with this?

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
Yippee ho-ho, put out some hay
Reindeer are in the skyyyyyy.

None of Tom Paxton's yuppies are wearing makeup, I notice.

Hey Barry, they work to "Goodnight Irene."

Back to sanity now...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 May 02 - 08:47 AM

Sorcha: Hard to find? You mean, like, in our own DigiTrad?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 10 May 02 - 09:20 AM

thanks all for your contributions so far

alas none are the one i'm looking for

cheers

mr happy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 29 May 02 - 12:33 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: curmudgeon
Date: 29 May 02 - 12:50 PM

For reverse parody, substitute Tooral i o, tooral i ay in the chorus, and use the rest of the tune for "The Wild Colonial Boy."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 30 May 02 - 06:09 PM

Mr Happy, I suppose you're not looking for The Portree Kid either? A Scottish parody containing a line about 'the teuchter who came from Skye', sung by The Corries. Very funny!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 13 Jun 03 - 04:13 AM

thanks all for your contributions so far
alas none are the one i'm looking for

cheers

mr happy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 08:02 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: The Walrus
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 10:06 PM

I will add that you can sing the Marines' Hymn ('From the Halls of Monteczuma...") to "Ghost Riders"
(as demonstrated, many years ago by our own Seamus Kennedy).

Walrus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 16 Aug 03 - 08:46 AM

refresh.

I remember one of the choruses as,

'Yippee i o, yippee i ay,
Its the cowboy with the makeup on,
Don't run just back away'

Does someone have the rest of it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Jim McLean
Date: 16 Aug 03 - 10:47 AM

In the mid 60s I wrote a song called Ghost Tigers in the Sky to the same tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: GUEST,Johnnie Logan
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 12:17 AM

Hello Jim McLean. Where can I find the words to Ghost Tigers in the Sky? I have been looking for the words for some time and had followed this thread hoping to find a link.I remember Hamish Imlach singing it in the sixties but never knew who wrote it.

Subject: Lyr Add: GHOST TIGERS IN THE SKY
From: Jim McLean
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 10:16 AM

Hi, here are the words! I wrote this around 1962 and note that the Tiger has a Scottish accent!

It was busy in the jungle, all the animals had came,
To console their friend the Tiger who would soon be Royal game,
But the Tiger wisnae havin' it, he didnae think it fun
To be stoppin' Royal bullets from Prince Philip's Royal gun.
CHORUS: Yippi i o, Yippi i ay,
       Ghost Tigers in the sky.
"You are lucky," cried the Elephant. "I wish that I was you,
For a palace isnae smelly like it is in London Zoo".
But the Tiger answered dismally, "It isnae really fair,
For ye cannae smell the perfume when yer streeched oot on the flair!"

"But you'll see and hear what's going on," the Vulture slyly said,
"And what the butler didn't see, then you will see instead".
"But that's nae consolation," said the Tiger in distress,
"For Ah couldnae sell my story tae the Sunday Express."

"Don't be daft", roared out the Lion,"It will really be a treat,
"And we'll all be mighty proud when you're a rug for Royal feet".
"Ye micht be prood", the Tiger said, "But Ah will feel a fool,
If the Royal weans pick oot ma een tae play a game o' bools!"

"Just think of all the folk you'll meet" said the Camel with the hump,
"The Great White Queen in London Town may stand upon your rump".
"That may be so, my stupid friend", the Tiger loudly moans,
"But whit if the boys frae the IRA come chasin' Mrs Jones?".

"It's an honour friend" the Monkey said, "To die for the Royal flag",
"Ach tae Hell!" replied the Tiger, "That just gets my Tiger's Rag!
Aw that jazz is for the birds, it's no' for a cat like me.
Ah'd rather end up in a cage that dead wi' an' OBE!"

So come all ye jolly tigers that go roaming wild and free,
If you've a mind to stay alive, take this advice from me.
Keep one good eye upon your rear as you go through the grass,
In case a Royal bullet whistles ---- up the Khyber Pass!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: GUEST,Johnnie Logan
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 05:53 PM

Thanks for that Jim.Its even better than I remember it. What about telling anyone else reading this why it was written.A lot of them wouldn't have been around in the sixties and many of those that were will have forgotten the dastardly deeds of the" Chookie Emra".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 28 Oct 03 - 06:34 PM

Les Barker did a parody called "Oldham Tinkers in the Sky" - and by coincidence, the next thread at time of writing this was entitled Oldham Tinkers.

Itchycoo. It's a treat. Skinny Lizzy is the 'arem queen...

LFF

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Jim McLean
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 04:01 AM

Hi Johnny Logan, as you say probably a lot of folk don't realise that The Duke of Edinburgh, who is now the President of the Wild Life Trust (or some such organisation) was shooting tigers in the sixties: hence the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 07:09 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 09:11 AM

Could this be a takeoff on "Old Cowhand From the Rio Grande"? OCFTRG is in the Digitrad, at least one version of it, but there have been parodies. The "Yippie i o, yippy i ay!" could also "Yippy Ki Yo, Yippy ki yay".

The original seems to date from about 1936 and has been recorded (and changed) by folks from Sinatra to Mercer to Harry Connick Jr.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 10 Sep 06 - 08:03 AM

thanks all for your contributions so far
alas none are the one i'm looking for

cheers

mr happy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Sep 06 - 01:39 PM

Although none is the one you search for, the thread is worth reading for the Paxton and McLean verses.
Refresh the thread from time to time, it may yet surface.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 11:20 AM

thanks all for your contributions so far
alas none are the one i'm looking for

cheers

mr happy


another line I remember is something 'laddered his tights'

Ring a bell, anyone?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Celtaddict
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 12:18 PM

You are not thinking of 'Lavender Cowboy' are you? I do not recall a verse with makeup or laddering tights but have heard different verses at different times, quite a few not in the original; it seems it lends itself to adding new verses.
He was only a lavender cowboy;
He had only three hairs on his chest.
He rode on a filly
Called Daffy-down-dilly
The sexiest horse in the West.
It is 0.7967 in the DT.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Bru
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 02:45 PM

Rawhide, by The Chaps is worth a listen. Moves from the Rawhide theme to Ghost Riders In The Sky and back again. Lots going on in the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Don Firth
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 03:04 PM

Yippee-aye-oh K-Y?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 03:17 PM

Nope - none of the above.

Have a feeling might be a Mike Harding one.

Anybody know?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 08:39 AM

A trio round our way, colloquially known as MFI, have lately been doing a different parody of RitS, using the words of The Wild Rover to the tune, & goes down particularly well with non folky audients.

They got upstaged a little during Xmas when another chum of ours followed their rendition with some extra verses, using the words of Molly Malone!

*********************

Alas still no joy with my orig request - anyone got it yet?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Lighter
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 02:17 PM

The tune of "Ghost Riders" owes a lot to "John Anderson, My Jo," even more, in fact, than does "When Johnny Comes Marching Home,"

Except for the chorus.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: GUEST,Me
Date: 28 May 09 - 08:03 AM

The Lavender Cowboy
(Paddy Roberts)

Yippee-yi, yippee-yay
Yippee-yi, yippee-yo, yippee-yay
Which sounds rather silly,
But every hillbilly,
Spends half his life singing that way


He was just a lavender cowboy
With only three hairs on his chest
And he rode on a filly
Called Daffy-down-dilly
The prettiest horse in the west


Every morning they went out together
While the others looked on in dismay
For he'd round up the cattle
A-riding sidesaddle
Because he preferred it that way


He was just a lavender cowboy
Who committed a terrrible sin
He went out on a bender
And slugged a bartender
And stole all the strawberry gin


So the posse was sent out to find him
To bring him back dead or alive
And they knew as they went
They were hot on the scent
By the smell of Chanel Number Five


And they found him a-lying unconcious
With blood running all down his chin
'Til they looked a bit closer
And what do you know sir
They found it was strawberry gin


So they shot the lavender cowboy
And they said, as they laid him to rest
"You'll be happier now boy.
You can't be a cowboy
With only three hairs on your chest." ^^

---

Also see Lavender Cowboy, which is already in the Digital Tradition.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: Midchuck
Date: 28 May 09 - 08:29 AM

"The Friggin' Falcon," which was first published in Sing Out in the early '60s, attributed, IIRC, to the Science Fiction author Theodore Cogswell (and which the compilers of the DT, in a regrettable lapse from their usually very high standards of ethnomusicological scholarship, have chosen to include under the title of "Song From Lucifer's Hammer," simply because Niven and Pournelle had one of the characters singing it, many years after the first publication), was supposed to be sung to that melody. My wife noticed that it could also be sung to Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors," and I think I prefer that melody for it.

I suspect that any song that can use the "Ghost Riders" melody will also work with Dolly's tune.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: yippy i o, yippy i ay!
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Nov 15 - 12:45 PM

No, Mr. Happy, I have not found the version you are looking for.

Any mention of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" parodies reminds me of the Mark Russell Show on television years back. Russell used the "Ghost Riders" tune and theme in order to lampoon Bernard Goetz the New York subway shooter. Will Russell sue us if we recall his lampoon/parody lyrics? Well, I don't remember all of them anyway, just bits and pieces. The first line does rather grab one's attention:

He walked into the subway with his six-gun by his side....

and by the time you reach the end of the verse, it is

Just like Jesse James and Wyatt Earp,
You're in No Man's Land!

cue yippy i o, yippy i ay....you're in Noooooooooo   Maaaaaannnnnnnnn's Laaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnd    HYA! HYA!

.........shameless, that Mark Russell. Not always amusing, either, but THAT parody lingers in the memory.