Author Topic: Them Old Cowboy Songs  (Read 12317 times)

Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,965
  • well, I won't
Them Old Cowboy Songs
« on: August 29, 2009, 04:30:03 pm »
No, this is not about Annie's story, but rather about real, old, or not so old, cowboy songs. 

It's a rainy day, and I got to thinking about the old song "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle".  It seems to say that a cowboy can't court a girl because he's more interested in horsing around.  I once heard the Connecticut Gay Men's Chorus sing this and it was hilarious. 

It was a #1 song in the US in the summer of 1942 for Kay Kyser. 

Here's a particularly campy version from the film "The Forest Ranger".

Do you have any favorites?

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CUXLuVjO-w[/youtube]

Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,965
  • well, I won't
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2009, 04:37:37 pm »
Here's the jazzy Kay Kyser version, vocals by Harry Babbit and Julie Conway:  

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq7wO1qtQuM[/youtube]
« Last Edit: May 21, 2014, 04:59:42 pm by southendmd »

Offline Sason

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,164
  • Bork bork bork
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2009, 04:45:34 pm »
I wonder what made you think of that song....?

 ;D


You gotta warn people for the first version of the song.

You risk falling off your chair from LOLing when you see it!!

Düva pööp is a förce of natüre

Offline Monika

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 6,587
  • We are all the same. Women, men, gay, straight
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2009, 04:58:25 pm »


[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CUXLuVjO-w[/youtube]
girls with horse heads attached to their fronts? I bet Freud would have something to say about that :o


Don´t know if this counts as "old" but I quite like "A Song of Wyoming" by John Denver

[youtube=425,350]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="
&hl=sv&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="
&hl=sv&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]


Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,965
  • well, I won't
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2009, 05:02:29 pm »
"Big Rock Candy Mountain"

This, of course, was in our film, as the inspiration for Lureen's "bluebirds sing and there's a whiskey spring".  There are numerous versions, with different words, exchanging peppermint trees for cigarette trees, and gin or whiskey becomes lemonade or soda pop!  The song apparently dates to the 1890s, with recordings from the 1920s and later recordings by Tex Ritter and Burl Ives in the 1940s.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKk_kPmAk4[/youtube]

Originally, the song described a child being recruited into the hobo life, with tales of fantastical things.  Wiki shows the original last stanza:

The punk rolled up his big blue eyes
And said to the jocker, "Sandy,
I've hiked and hiked and wandered too,
But I ain't seen any candy.
I've hiked and hiked till my feet are sore
And I'll be damned if I hike any more
To be buggered sore like a hobo's whore
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains."
« Last Edit: May 21, 2014, 05:02:12 pm by southendmd »

Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,965
  • well, I won't
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2009, 05:15:49 pm »
I did  say it was campy, Sonja!

Thanks for your contribution, Monika.  Not-so-old songs are welcome too. 

Your'e right about Freud and horse-fronts LOL.

Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,965
  • well, I won't
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2009, 05:21:37 pm »
Here's my favorite contemporary cowgirl song, "Prairie in the Sky", by Mary McCaslin, from the 1970s.  Maybe French horns aren't too "cowboy", but such a plaintive sound. 

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuGMHTOEUG8[/youtube]

Offline Front-Ranger

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 30,288
  • Brokeback got us good.
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2009, 10:44:08 pm »
Thanks for starting this very interesting thread, friend! I'm enjoying listening to all the music!

That last stanza to Big Rock Candy Mountain is kind of heartbreaking. When I was a child, I used to sing Jingle Jangle Jingle with different words. I am glad to know "the salty words" to it!!
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Front-Ranger

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 30,288
  • Brokeback got us good.
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #8 on: August 29, 2009, 10:52:53 pm »
Was that what Dylan was referring to when he sang, "In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you."
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,965
  • well, I won't
Re: Them Old Cowboy Songs
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2009, 12:09:06 am »
Was that what Dylan was referring to when he sang, "In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you."

Good question, Lee.  I looked it up--wiki states that Dylan lifted those lyrics from hipster Lord Buckley.  Lord knows where he got them from!