western songs for women?

Subject: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,jo
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 04:23 AM

hi all,
im looking for inspiration...
in a few weeks time i am going to a wild west style event, and i want a few songs up my sleeve. now its not my natural genre - i'm an english ballad singer! - and when i have looked around online mostly what i find is songs very obviously to be sung by cowboys. which isnt what i want if im going to be a saloon wench type... some of my usual repetoire might suffice, but id rather have something more evocative.
so any pointers to good interesting songs that would fit better, preferably with pointers to where i could see or hear the tune, would be very gratefully received.
thanks
jo

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Splott Man
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 04:49 AM

Try the Indigo Girls' or the Dixie Chicks' repertoires

The Wag(g)oner's Lad might fit the bill, it has versions from both sides of the pond, Tim O'Brien did it on The Crossing, and I recently heard a version by the Duhks (pron: Dukes).

regards

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 07:23 AM

whip crack away / deadwood stage - Doris Day

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 07:32 AM

Cowgirl A-Go-Go - Cowboy Nation

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,neovo
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 10:16 AM

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,neovo
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 10:17 AM

I'll get the hang of these computery thingies one day. How about Philadelphia Lawyer?

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 10:22 AM

CLICK for one, and there's a song in there "The Banker" that could work as a women's song too.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From:
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 10:30 AM

Guest, Jo, I might suggest the Red River Valley. The lyrics have been re-worked at different times to be from the woman's point of view.

Alice might have some suggestions as well.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 11:34 AM

There's always "The Bucking Bronco". And the vast repetoire of Patsy Montana as well as the Girls of the Golden West--all available now on CD.

Subject: Lyr Add: I WANT TO BE A COWBOY'S SWEETHEART
From: M.Ted
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 11:35 AM

Do "I Want to Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart", sung by Patsy Montana--with the Yodeling--

I WANT TO BE A COWBOY'S SWEETHEART
As recorded by Patsy Montana with the Prairie Ramblers, 1935. (Columbia 37602)

(Yodeling)

1. I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart.
I want to learn to rope and to ride.
I want to ride o'er the plains and the desert
Out west of the great divide.
I want to hear the coyotes howlin'
While the sun sinks in the west.
I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart.
That's the life that I love the best.

(Yodeling)

2. I want to ride Old Paint goin' at a run.
I want to feel the wind in my face,
A thousand miles from these city lights,
Goin' a cowhand's pace.
I want to pillow my head near the sleepin' herd
While the moon shines down from above.
I want to strum my guitar and "yodelay-hee-hoo."
Oh, that's the life that I love.

(Yodeling)

REPEAT VERSE 1

(Yodeling)

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 11:45 AM

Bird in a Gilded Cage. Not Western/Cowboy, but about a 'wench'

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: pdq
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 11:58 AM

The Coon Creek Girls, either the origional 30s-50s version with Lily May Ledford, or the later 80s group with Dale Ann Bradley and Ramona Church. They are an all-girl band where the members play their own instruments, often very well.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: open mike
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 12:27 PM

here is a bluegrass band with gals...
http://www.sidesaddleandco.com/bio.htm

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: SINSULL
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 01:32 PM

Anything from "Annie Get Your Gun" or "Oklahoma"?
Dale Evans' website might have something.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 01:41 PM

"See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have"

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 01:42 PM

"The Colorado Trail"

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Alice
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 02:04 PM

REDWING

SWEET BETSY FROM PIKE

SPANISH IS THE LOVING TONGUE
(change the lyrics - see my post on thread re this song)

SOME DAY SOON (goin' with him, some day soon)

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Cluin
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 02:18 PM

Tamarack's "Queen of Silver Centre"

Subject: ADD: I'd Like to Be a Cowgirl
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 03:59 PM

Well, there's "I'd Like to Be a Cowgirl, But Ooh I'm Scared of Cows." I posted the male version here (click). I think it was Rounder that had a recording Cathy Fink and others singing this.
Patsy Montana recorded it as "I'd Love to Be a Cowgirl (But I'm A-Scared of Cows)."
-Joe Offer-

---

Here's a version:

I'D LIKE TO BE A COWGIRL
(Author Unknown)

One day I went out to a rodeo
I like to see the cowboys rope and ride
I got excited as I watched the show
I jumped right up and down and then I cried...

I'd like to be a cowgirl, but ooh I’m scared of cows
Moo moo moo how they scare me.
I often try to face them
While in a field they browse
Moo moo moo how they scare me. *yodel

I'd walk up to a lion and smack him on the brow
I'd even kick a pole cat but don’t ask me to punch a cow.
Chorus *yodel

I tried to milk a Holstein she acted like a fool
No matter how I coaxed her, she wouldn’t sit down on a stool.
Chorus *yodel

They say a cat has nine lives, but I know a cow
She kicked the bucket ten times, and she’s alive and kickin' now.
Chorus *yodel

A cow once tried to chase me across a field of corn
She bumped right into my guitar, and didn’t even sound the horn.
Chorus *yodel

Source: http://www.romperrhythm.com/l/Cowgirl.pdf

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,Les B.
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 04:11 PM

Although not traditional - "Hallie Lonigan" by Tom Russell. About a woman raising two kids in the early west. Her first husband dies and she "marries for convenience" a man from the town. He's drunk and abusive and "falls on her butcher knife" and crawls off in the mud and dies. It's a great woman's song. One of my band mates sings it at times. Sends chills up your spine!

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Once Famous
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 05:07 PM

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Written by Rodney Crowell
As sung by Emmylou Harris

She's a rounder, I can tell you that.
She can sing 'em all night, too.
She'll raise hell about the sleep she lost.
But even cowgirls get the blues.

Especially cowgirls, they're the gypsy kind,
And need their reins laid on 'em loose.
She's lived to see the world turned upside down,
Hitchin' rides out of the blues.

But even cowgirls get the blues, sometimes,
Bound to "Don't know what to do," sometimes.
Get this feelin' like she's too far gone,
The only way she's ever been.

Lonely nights are out there on the road,
Motel ceiling stares you down.
There must be safer ways to pay your dues,
But even cowgirls get the blues.

But even cowgirls get the blues, sometimes,
Bound to "Don't know what to do," sometimes.
Get this feelin' like she's too far gone,
The only way she's ever been.

But even cowgirls get the blues, sometimes,
Bound to "Don't know what to do," sometimes.
Get this feelin' like the restless wind,
The only way she's ever been.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Once Famous
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 05:10 PM

Montana Cowgirl

Written by Ray Park
As sung by Emmylou Harris

For many long years I've played a lone hand
I rode my horse in many strange lands
Until one day I stopped for awhile
For two blue eyes and a sunny smile

So howl away you old coyote
I hear your sad and lonesome song
You're calling me back to old Montana
Back to those hills where I belong

One day I rode away from home
I'm a' traveling back and it won't be long
I'll see you again in a little while
You're my darling sweet, my welcome smile

So howl away you old coyote
I hear your sad and lonesome song
You're calling me back to old Montana
Back to those hills where I belong

So howl away you old coyote
I hear your sad and lonesome song
You're calling me back to old Montana
Back to those hills where I belong

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 05:47 PM

"Swing Time Cowgirl" was recorded by Patsy Montana and Janet McBride. Hank Snow's "The Texas Cowgirl" has been recorded by Janet as has Elton Britt's "When A Cowgirl is Happy". "Buttons and Bows" should also fit. Prickly Pair does "The Sad Irish Cowgirl", "Sarah Hogan", and "Nellie Kane". Steve Gillette's "Darcy Farrow" is a great song and does not require a western setting.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,Libby
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 05:55 PM

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,Libby
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 06:03 PM

Sorry for the blank posts...I hit enter and sent by mistake. Here's a good one about a real huzzbucket. A little more than a wench, I'd say.
She Moves Among Men (The Bar Maid's Song)

She Moves Among Men (The Bar Maid's Song)
(Bill Caddick / Jigsaw Music)

"Speak to me gently before we begin"
She pleads but they laugh and pull her down
And after they abused her briefly and roughly
They leave her to face the dawn alone

When they have gone she moves on her side
Thinks of the men that with her have lain
And none of them gave her a kind word of loving
And after they're done not one of them stayed

Once she was wary, chose but a few
To roll in her arms at the end of the day
But the flower so proud begins now to wither
And any may pluck at the petals so gay

Alone in the night she muses a while
And thinks of the days and how they were passed
She cries for the lonely years that await her
Till death takes her hand and weds her at last

Down in the barroom she moves among men
Who watch her and touch her whenever they can
And she notices hands and mouths as they drink
And over their tankards the eyes of each man

"Speak to me gently before we begin"

-----------------------------------------------
recorded by June Tabor on "Abyssinians" (1983)

I am also remembering an old blues lament, Careless Love, that could be modified a bit for a "Western Wench". A great line "now I wear my apron high." I learned this when I was about 8 because my parents were serious blues fanatics.

Here is the link for that. http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiCARELOVE;ttCAR

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 06:58 PM

remember the song "Buttons & Bows"? from Bob Hope movie, I think...not 'trad', but cute...

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 07:48 PM

Patsy Montana was known as the first singing cowgirl, and she had a big hit with Cowboys Sweetheart as mentioned earlier.
   If you go to The Record Lady site you can hear this and others of her songs.
    http://www.recordlady.webgcs.com/main2.htm
Find Patsy Montana in the artist list and it will tell you on what page to find her songs.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 07:52 PM

Weaverville - written, if I'm not mistaken, by Mary McCaslin & Jim Ringer, and there's a sensational recording by Kate Wolf.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 08:26 PM

Wild Rippling Water is a cowboy version of The Nightingale. That's a thread link. The midi in the DT (Wild Rippling Water[s] never got fixed, but the abc is in that thread.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: open mike
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 09:02 PM

i think buttons and bows might be from the musical oklahoma..

my fave female song is one by chris williamson
about calamity jane--i am trying to find it to post to
DT

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Arkie
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 09:26 PM

I think "Buttons and Bows" was sung by Bob Hope in the movie "Paleface". It is by the song writing team Livingston and Evans and I think both Dinah Shore and Gene Autry had popular recordings of the song.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: open mike
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 09:43 PM

the ballad of weaverville is indeed a good'um
and another is me and my uncle...done by
Katy Moffatt on her Cowboy Girl c.d.
if i am not nistaken..she has several other albums out
http://members.aol.com/klmoffatt/
i htink one of them has the song 10,000 god damned cattle
Laurie lewis has some good ones...www.laurielewis.com
and my latest discovery in cowgirls is stephanie davis
she recenlty returned homw to montana after be3ing in
nashville for years.www.stephaniedavis.net/
alsdo out fo the seattle area lok for anything by
Ranch Romance-0-0-
http://www.sugarhillrecords.com/catalog/artist.cgi?Ranch+Romance
or many of the other artists on http://www.sugarhillrecords.com
the Burns sisters have some good material too.
Definately Rosalie Sorrells! she is a wild west kind of gal.
www.rosaliesorrels.com she is Way out in idaho.
also the Rodz Sisters have a c.d. called Women who run with the cows..
whidch is a play on words of a book called women who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés.
i know this is way too much info with not a lot of specific tunes
but i hope you will support some of these women buy purchasing their recordigns...

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Cluin
Date: 25 Jan 05 - 07:08 PM

James Keelaghan's "Number 37".

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 01:31 AM

open mike mentioned Me And My Uncle. I was going to mention that one, too, which was on one of Judy Collins' early albums, but I couldn't remember whether the narrator was identified as a woman in the song, or whether I just thought of the narrator as a woman because it was Judy Collins I heard sing it.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,jo
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 05:38 PM

just wanted to say thanks to all of you   (or should that be, y'all? :)
would have done so sooner but havent been able to get through to mudcat for some reason.
i think im going to enjoy myself with this one...
incidentally, does anyone have the lyrics to hallie lonigan? that sounds great, but i cant find it anywhere online.

cheers
jo

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 07:12 PM

open mike & Arkie -

"sung" has to be used quite loosely when placed close to "Bob Hope," but Buttons and Bows was used in the movie The Paleface. I don't know whether it was written for the movie, but probably was. My vague recollection is that the song was actually sung (mostly) by the female lead, Jane Russell. If so, it was almost certainly a voiceover, as her musical talents weren't much better than Bob's.

There was a sequel, Son of Paleface, about 4 years after the original, with both Hope and Russell but both in different roles than in the original. I believe the song was re-used in the sequel, but since it's only been about 10 years since I watched as much as I could take of the sequel I'm not gonna run it again to be sure.

John

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 07:31 PM

Speaking of the great Patsy Montana, she recorded the wonderful SHE BUCKAROO. For some reason it never seems to get put out on any of the reissues, so here goes.

                     THE SHE BUCKAROO

As sung by Patsy Montana. Tune: Strawberry Roan.

Some gals they like babies an' houses an' things,
But give me the feel of a horse that has wings,
I'll ride him straight off, like all cowboys do,
I'm a straight-ridin' lassie, a she buckaroo,
There's a secret in life for which I sure hone,
I'm a-pinin' to ride that ol' Strawberry Roan,
I'll make him hop out like an old kangaroo,
I'm a tough-ridin' lassie, a she buckaroo.

If you make the rodeos you'll find me right there    [pron. ro-day-os]
Ridin' n' ropin' an' winnin' my share
Of the prizes they give, make the he-men feel blue,
I'm a prize-winnin' lassie, a she buckaroo,
Sure I'm stuck on myself, but what do I care,
There's on one around me to give me the air,
But I've never walked off my trip to the zoo,
I'm a man-hatin' lassie, a she buckaroo.

Someday when I'm ready I'll ride down the road,
I'll rope me a cowpoke that's never been throwed,
I'll hogtie him tight till he swears he'll be true,
I'm a man-ropin' lassie, a she buckaroo,
I'll throw away my chaps and get dresses instead,
I'll learn to make biscuits and maybe cornbread,
I'll live in a town, I think that will do,
And goodby to Patsy, the she buckaroo.

Whatta song! Though, after the fiery independence of Verse 2, am I alone in feeling Verse 3's a bit of a comedown? A concession, maybe, to 1930s-40s ideas at the time when Patsy recorded this.

Subject: LYR ADD: Sarah Hogan (John Lowell)
From: GUEST,ednaelk
Date: 16 Mar 09 - 08:35 PM

How about John Lowell's "Sarah Hogan"? And does anyone have the chords to it for me? I'd be really grateful. Email them to [e-mail]. Thanks.

Here are the lyrics:

SARAH HOGAN
(John Lowell)

Verse 1:
In the pine covered hills of South Dakota
When the evening stars are shining bright and clear
And the drovers tell their stories round the campfire
The tale of Sarah Hogan you will hear.
Sarah was the sweetest flower of the prairie
With flowing hair and blue eyes flecked with gray
Her smile could turn the sunshine into shadow
And the cowboys that come courting her would say

Chorus:
Won't you meet me in the moonlight, Sarah Hogan
We could ride out in the hills my Sarah dear
Hear that prairie wolf a-cryin, he sings a mournful sound

But I will not be lonesome with you here.

Verse 2:
Billy Caldwell was a bold and reckless cowboy
He vied for Sarah's heart and not in vain
but her fatehr oould not stand the charming rounder
And forbade them both to ever meet again
billy fell in with some bad men from Wyoming
When they robbed the Tilford ban, two men were killed

Sarah did not know her lover was an outlaw
On the night she rode to meet him in the hills. (Chorus)

Verse 3:
In the quiet shadows waiting for the outlaws
Were some vigilantes shrouded by the night
Sarah's father raised a rifle to his sholder
As the mounted robber lined up in his sights
And when the gunshot tore the silence just like thunder
The bullet knocked the rider to the ground
but when the men ran out to fetch the fallen outlaw
It was Sarah's lifeless body that they found. (Chorus)

End:
Meet me in the moonlight, Sarah Hogan
I will not be lonesome with you here.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Mar 09 - 10:53 PM

Thanks for posting the lyrics for Sarah Hogan!

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: oldhippie
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 07:27 AM

To go along with "Philadelphia Lawyer" and "The Ballad of Weaverville", I'd suggest "Step It Out Nancy" (Holly Near).

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Acorn4
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 08:09 AM

"Does My Ring Burn Your Finger" by Lee Ann Womack:-

Buddy Miller/Julie Miller)

When I gave you my heart
It was not what you wanted
Now the walls say your name
And the pictures are haunted
Does my ring burn your finger
Did my love weigh you down?
Was the promise too much to keep around?

I remember your words and I can't keep from cryin
I could never believe that your kisses were lyin
Was there somethin from the past
Buried in a shallow grave?
Did you think that it was too far gone to save?

Please tell me baby
Please tell me now
You say that I should just go on
Now please tell me how

Now it's just me and the night and I'm so broken hearted
I just wait in the dark here for my dearly departed
Did my ring burn your finger?
Did my love weigh you down?
Was the promise too much to keep around?

Subject: RE: western songs for women?/Chords to Sarah Hogan
From: GUEST,ednaelk
Date: 19 Jul 09 - 06:38 PM

Here are the chords for Sarah Hogan, with thanks to Mr. John Lowell who wrote the song and so kindly sent them to me. Its a wonderful song:

                                    
Near the (C)pine covered hills of South Da(F)kota
                                          
When the (G)evening stars are (F)shining cold and (G)clear
                                          
And the (C)drovers tell their stories round the (F)campfire
                              
The (G)tale of Sarah (F)Hogan you will (C)hear.


Sarah was the sweetest flower of the prairie
With flowing hair and blue eyes flecked with gey
Her smile could turn the sunshine into shadow
And the cowboys that came courting her would say

Chorus:
                                       
Won't you (Am)meet me in the (F)moonlight Sarah (C)Hogan
                                 
We can (Am)ride out in the (F)hills my Sarah (G)dear
                                                
Hear the (Am)prairie wolf a-(F)crying, he (C)sings a mournful (Am)song
                                 
But (F)I will not be (G)lonesome with you (C)here.

Verse 2

Billy Caldwell was a bold and reckless cowboy
He vied for Sarah's heart and not in vain
But her father could not stand the charming rounder
And forbage them both to ever meet again

Then Billy fell in with some bad men from Wyoming
When they robbed the Tilford Bank two men were killed
Sarah did not know her lover was an outlaw
On the night she went to meet him in the hills. (Chorus)

Verse 3

In the quiet shadows waiting for the outlaws
Were some vigilanes shrouded by the night
Sarah's father raised a rifle to his sholder
As a mounted robber rode into his sights

And when the gunshot tore the silence just like thunder
The bullet knocked the rider to the ground
But when the men ran out to fetch the fallen outlaw
                                    
It was (G)Sarah's lifeless (F)body that they (Am)found.

Chorus
                                 
end: (F)I'll be all a(G)lone without you (C)here.

Subject: Lyr Add: SOMEDAY SOON (Ian Tyson)
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 20 Jul 09 - 02:21 PM

"Someday soon"

Sung by Judy Collins and many others.

There's a young man that I know whose age is twenty-one
Comes from down in southern Colorado
Just out of the service, he's lookin' for his fun
Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

My parents can not stand him 'cause he rides the rodeo
My father says that he will leave me cryin'
I would follow him right down the roughest road I know
Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

But when he comes to call, my pa ain't got a good word to say
Guess it's 'cause he's just as wild in his younger days

So blow, you old Blue Northern, blow my love to me
He's ridin' in tonight from California
He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me
Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

When he comes to call, my pa ain't got a word to say
Guess it's 'cause he's just as wild in his younger days

So blow, you old blue northern, blow my love to me
He's ridin' in tonight from California
He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me
Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon
Someday soon, goin' with him, someday soon

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 20 Jul 09 - 02:21 PM

"Someday soon"

Sung by Judy Collins and many others.

There's a young man that I know whose age is twenty-one
Comes from down in southern Colorado
Just out of the service, he's lookin' for his fun
Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

My parents can not stand him 'cause he rides the rodeo
My father says that he will leave me cryin'
I would follow him right down the roughest road I know
Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

But when he comes to call, my pa ain't got a good word to say
Guess it's 'cause he's just as wild in his younger days

So blow, you old Blue Northern, blow my love to me
He's ridin' in tonight from California
He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me
Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

When he comes to call, my pa ain't got a word to say
Guess it's 'cause he's just as wild in his younger days

So blow, you old blue northern, blow my love to me
He's ridin' in tonight from California
He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me
Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon
Someday soon, goin' with him, someday soon

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 20 Jul 09 - 02:24 PM

I've no idea how that one got double posted. As Geoffrey Rush said in "Shakespeare in Love," "I don't know - it's a mystery"

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: open mike
Date: 20 Jul 09 - 02:37 PM

I learned this Australian song from my mudcat friend Mudlark,
When the Children Come Home... by Henry Lawson. It is about a
widow woman who is working on the ranch all alone. You can see me
performing it on myspace at www.myspace.com/laurelwoodsorrel at
the video link to the Elko Cowboy Gathering. it starts out "on a
lonely selection way out in the west..." so can easily be imagined
to be in the wild west of the American continent. I believe it is in the D.T.

I also love to perform Night Rider's Lament..even though the only woman in the song is said to have never seen the northern lights or a hawk on the wing, or the spring time in the great divide, or heard camp cookie sing...

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: open mike
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 01:34 PM

Juni Fisher (www.junifisher.net) has several great songs..
one sweet one is "I Hope She'll Love me" about a couple who met
thru a singles ad. she is a great storyteller.

She sings from the female perspective and one powerful song
she does depicts two women doing laundry on opposite sides
of the river..one white, one Indian.

there are several songs about wild women of the west..

Chris Williamson has one about Calamity Jane...Queen of the plains..

the Red clay Ramblers have one about Annie Oakley

Woody Guthrie wrote one about Belle Starr the bandit queen

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Midchuck
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 01:42 PM

Drove down to Northampton, MA, to see Ian Tyson back in '95.

He did "Some Day Soon," and introduced it by saying, "Here's the one that paid the mortgage on the ranch."

Peter.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Artful Codger
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 05:38 PM

If you care to write some music, you might check out some of the cowgirl poets. A good place to start is the collection Cowgirl Poetry (mostly modern), ed. Virginia Bennett. Also Poems of the Old West, ed. Levette J. Davidson, 1951 (limited viewing at Google Books), and the Cowboy Poetry site (http://www.cowboypoetry.com/).

Some individual women poets of the old west:

Rhoda Sivell (w. Canada, 1874-1962), Voices from the Range, 1911 - search the Cowboy Poetry site

Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) - see Project Gutenburg

Sarah Elizabeth Howard (), Pen Pictures of the Plains, 1902 - see Google Books

Harriet L. Wason, Letters from Colorado, 1887

Lillian White Spenser (Denver), Arrowheads, 1929

Nellie Burget Miller (Colo. Springs), Earthen Bowls, 1924; The Sun Drops Red, 1947.

Ann Woodbury Hafen (Utah/Colo.)

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: oldhippie
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 05:44 PM

There's "The Ballad of Mary Fields" by Mary McGinniss on her CD Places In Between.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Artful Codger
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 06:06 PM

From the Cowboy Poetry website page on Rhoda Sivell:

"Almeda Terry of Huntley, Montana, learned about Rhoda Sivell from Cowgirl Poetry. To date (June, 2009), Almeda has adapted seven of Rhoda Sivell's poems into song. She's been performing those poems to appreciative audiences, and is at work on a CD of songs based on poems in Voices from the Range. She welcomes any historical information regarding Rhoda Sivell (contact her through her web site [http://www.almedam2bmusic.com/])."

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Nerd
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 06:30 PM

There's also Robin Williams's Step it Out Nancy (you can find it in the DT)

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: Nerd
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 06:31 PM

Oops, oldhippie already suggested that one, in Holly Near's version! Robin wrote it, though....

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: SuperKrone
Date: 15 Sep 09 - 10:56 PM

Artist: Byrd, Tracy
Song: Wildfire
Album: Ten Rounds

A song about a "sodbuster" woman who haunts the plains on "a pony she called Wildfire", and is coming for the singer to join her in death. A change from jolly cowgirl lyrics.

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: open mike
Date: 16 Sep 09 - 01:35 AM

The song Wildfire is by Michael Martin Murphey

here is a video of it on you tube with animation of horses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwDGp2crSbw

Subject: RE: western songs for women?
From: kendall
Date: 16 Sep 09 - 04:45 AM

Darcy Farrow is as good as they come.
You might also consider The Wayward Wind as sung by Gogi Grant.

I first heard Buttons & Bows sung by ...oh hell, she had a TV show, sponsored by Chevrolet. Dinah Shore.