Lyr Add: Texas Cowboy

Subject: Lyr Add: TEXAS COWBOY and I'M A TEXAS COWBOY
From: Artful Codger
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 03:51 AM

The Texas Cowboy

Come all you Texas cow-boys
And warning take of me
Don't go out in Montana
for wealth or liberty
But stay home here in Texas
Where they work the year around
And where you'll not get consumption
From sleeping on the ground.

Montana is too cold for me,
And the winters are too long
Before the round-ups have begun,
Your money is all gone
For in Montana the boys get work
But six months in the year
And they charge for things three prices
In that land so bleak and drear.

This thin old hen-skin bedding
'Twas not enough to shield my form
For I almost Freeze to death,
Whene'er there comes a storm.
I've an outfit on the Mussleshell
Which I expect I'll never see
Unless by chance I'm sent
To represent this A R and P T.

All along these bad lands,
And down upon the dry
Where the cañons have no bottoms
And the mountains reach the sky
Your chuck is bread and bacon
And coffee black as ink
And hard old alkali water
Thats scarcely fit to drink.

They'll wake you in the morning
Before the break of day
And send you out on circle,
Full twenty miles away.
With a "Tenderfoot" to lead you
Who never knows the way
You're pegging in the best of luck
If you get two meals a day.

I've been over in Colorado
And down upon the Platte
Where the cow-boys work in pastures
And the cattle all are fat
Where they ride silver mounted saddles
And spurs and leggin's too
And their horses are all Normans
And only fit to plow.

Yes I've traveled lots of country,
Arizona's hills of sand
Down through the Indian Nation
Plum to the Rio Grande
Montana is the bad-land
The worst I've ever seen
Where the cow-boys are all tenderfeet
And the dogies are all lean.

As collected by N. Howard Thorp in Sun and Saddle Leather, pub. 1908.
Thorp: An old song, credited to Al Pease of Round Rock, Texas. I first heard it sung by J. Latham at La Luz, New Mexico.


The following version is taken from the CD "When I Was a Cowboy", vol. 1, where it was performed by Arkansas Woodchopper.

I'm a Texas Cowboy

1. Well I'm a Texas Cowboy, I'm far away from home
If I ever get back to Texas I never more will roam
Montana is too cold for me and the winters are too long
Before the roundups do begin our money is all gone
[yodel]

2. I've worked down in Nebraska, Nebraska's hills of sand
Down through the Indian nation and up the rio Grande
But the badlands of Montana are the worst I've ever seen
The cowboys are all tenderfeet and the dogies are too lean

3. I've worked down in Nebraska where the grass grows ten feet high,
Where the cattle are such rustlers that they hardly ever die;
I've worked up in the Sand Hills and down upon the Platte
Where the cowboys are good fellows and the cattle always fat.
[yodel]

4. A tenderfoot to lead you who never knows the way
You're playing in the best of luck if you eat more than once a day
The grub is bread and bacon and the coffee black as ink
The water is so full of alkali it's hardly fit to drink
[yodel]

5. Come all you Texas cowboys and a warning take from me
And don't go to Montana to spend your money free
But stay at home in Texas where the work lasts the year around
And you'll never catch consumption by sleeping on the ground
[yodel]


This correlates to Tinsley's version (in the DigiTrad) as follows:
1 = T1. O, I'm a Texas cowboy
2 = T4. I've traveled lots of country
3 = T3. I've worked down in Nebraska
4 = new verse (second halves of Thorp's verses 4 and 3)
5 = T8. Now all you Texas cowboys

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Texas Cowboy
From: Artful Codger
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 04:00 AM

Duh, just noticed that Woodchopper's verse 4 is also the second halves of Tinsley's verses 5 and 6. Ah well...

Subject: Lyr Add: THE TEXAS COWBOY
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 01:12 PM

Incorrect reference-
N. Howard Thorp published "Texas Cowboy" in "Songs of the Cowboys," 1908, New Mexico Print Shop, Estancia, New Mexico, pp. 21-23.

"Sun and Saddle Leather" is by Badger Clark, first printed in 1915 but with several revisions- the 1952 edition printed by Chapman and Grimes is the best because the little volumes "Grass Grown Trails" and "New Poems" were added. Clark included no version of "The Texas Cowboy."

The Mudcat DT has "The Texas Cowboy," a version sung by Kathy Dagel, included in Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, 1969, "Cowboy and Western Songs, a Comprehensive Anthology," no. 31, pp. 91-92, with music and guitar chords. The lyrics are those collected by Thorp.

The Fifes' book includes a version printed in the Glendive (Montana) Independent, March 31, 1888.

Lyr. Add: THE TEXAS COWBOY
Montana, 1888

1.
I am a Texas cowboy, and I am far away from home,
If I ever get back to Texas, I never more will roam.
Montana is too cold for me, and the winters are too long,
Before the roundups do begin your money is all gone.
2.
Now, to win those fancy leggings you will have enough to do;
They cost me fourteen dollars the day that they were new.
And this old hen skin bedding too thin to keep me warm,
I nearly freeze to death my boys, whenever there comes a storm.
3.
I have worked down in Nebraska, where the grass grows ten feet high;
Where the cattle are such rustlers they hardly ever die.
I have been up in the sand hills, and down upon the Platte,
Where the punchers are good fellows and the cattle always fat.
4.
I have traveled lots of country, from Nebraska's hills of sand,
Down through the Indian Nation and up the Rio Grande.
But the badlands of Montana are the worst I ever seen,
Where the punchers are all tenderfeet and the dogies are so lean.
5.
They will wake you in the morning before the break of day,
And send you on a circle a hundred miles away.
Your grub is bread and bacon, with coffee black as ink,
And the water so full of alkali that it isn't fit to drink.
6.
If you want to see some badlands just go over on the Dry,
Where you'll bog down in the coulies and the mountains touch the sky,
With a tenderfoot to guide you who never knows the way,
And you are playing in the best of luck if you eat three times a day.
7.
Up along the Yellowstone it is cold the year around,
You will surely get comsumption if you sleep upon the ground.
And the wages almost nothing for six months in the year,
When you pay up all your outside debts you have nothing left for beer.
8.
Now all you Texas this warning take by me,
Don't come up to Montana to spend your money free,
But stay at home in Texas where there is work all the year around,
And you will never get consumption by sleeping on the ground.

Text C, pp. 93-94, Fife and Fife, 1969, "Cowboy and Western Songs, a Comprehensive Anthology."

A facsimile reprint of Thorp's 1908 book is included in the research volume by Fife and Fife, rather confusingly titled "Songs of the Cowboys, The First Printed Collection... by N. Howard (Jack) Thorp ... Variants, Commenary, Notes and Lexicon," 1966, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., Publisher, NY. The volume also includes the 1888 version posted above.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Texas Cowboy
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 01:20 PM

"Songs of the Cowboys" was reworked by Thorp in 1921, with additional and revised songs, Houghton, Mifflin, Publishers.
The version of "The Texas Cowboy" included there is a hash of about three versions, like the one printed by Lomax.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Texas Cowboy
From: Goose Gander
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 01:29 PM

Texas Cowboy (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you Texas cowboys and warning take by me, Don't go out to Montana for wealth or liberty." The cowboy has worked in all sorts of places, but Montana is colder, you can only work (and so get paid) for six months a year, the food is bad, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1888 (The Glendive Independent)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work hardtimes warning
FOUND IN: US(MW,Ro,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Thorp/Fife VIII, pp. 97-103 (21-22), "The Texas Cowboy" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 31, "The Texas Cowboy" (3 texts, 1 tune)
DT, TXASCWBY*
Roud #4632
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "I'm a Texas Cowboy" (on Conqueror 7883, 1931)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Texas Cowboy
From: Goose Gander
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 01:57 PM

From the Ballad Index, of course.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Texas Cowboy
From: Artful Codger
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 06:00 PM

Q, thanks for the catch on the Thorp title. After a while, some of these titles get so familiar, the brain just skips the sanity check.