Post by 1dave on Aug 19, 2021 8:05:34 GMT -5
Did you ever wonder what was going on the year you were born?
This was a big hit the year I was born - 1936.
First sung by Bing Crosby in "Rhythm on the Range" with (Cast:) Bing Crosby as Jeff Larabee, Frances Farmer as Doris Halliday, Bob Burns as Buck, Martha Raye as Emma Mazda, Samuel S. Hinds as Robert Halliday, Warren Hymer as Big Brain, Lucile Gleason as Penelope 'Penny' Ryland' George E. Stone as Shorty' James Burke as Wabash, Martha Sleeper as Constance 'Connie', Clem Bevans as Gila Bend, Leonid Kinskey as Mischa, Ellen Drew as Party Guest, Louis Prima, Roy Rogers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_an_Old_Cowhand_(From_the_Rio_Grande)
"I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)" is a comic song written by Johnny Mercer for the Paramount Pictures release Rhythm on the Range and sung by its star, Bing Crosby. The Crosby commercial recording was made on July 17, 1936 with Jimmy Dorsey & his Orchestra for Decca Records.[1] It was a huge hit in 1936 reaching the No. 2 spot in the charts of the day,[2] and it greatly furthered Mercer's career. Crosby recorded the song again in 1954 for his album Bing: A Musical Autobiography.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[3]
Mercer and his wife were driving across the USA en route to Savannah after having apparently failed to succeed in Hollywood. Mercer was amused by the sight of cowboys, with spurs and ten-gallon hats, driving cars and trucks instead of riding horses. Singing cowboys were popular in films and on the radio then, and within 15 minutes, writing on the back of an envelope, Mercer transferred the image he was seeing into a song whose satirical lyrics vented some of his own bitter frustration with Hollywood.[4]
The lyrics, about a 20th-century cowboy who has little in common with cowpunchers of old, have been included in some anthologies of light verse.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[3]
Mercer and his wife were driving across the USA en route to Savannah after having apparently failed to succeed in Hollywood. Mercer was amused by the sight of cowboys, with spurs and ten-gallon hats, driving cars and trucks instead of riding horses. Singing cowboys were popular in films and on the radio then, and within 15 minutes, writing on the back of an envelope, Mercer transferred the image he was seeing into a song whose satirical lyrics vented some of his own bitter frustration with Hollywood.[4]
The lyrics, about a 20th-century cowboy who has little in common with cowpunchers of old, have been included in some anthologies of light verse.
I’m an Old Cowhand - Johnny Mercer
I'm an old cowhand from the Rio Grande
But my legs ain't bowed and my cheeks ain't tanned
I'm a cowboy who never saw a cow
Never roped a steer cause I don't know how
Sure ain't a fixin' to start in now
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
I'm an old cowhand and I come down from the Rio Grande
And I learned to ride, ride, ride 'fore I learned to stand
I'm a ridin' fool who is up to date
I know every trail in the Lone Star State
Cause I ride the range in a Ford V8
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
We're old cowhands from the Rio Grande
And we come to town just to hear the band
We know all the songs that the cowboys know
'Bout the Big Corral where the doggies go
We learned them all on the radio
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
I'm an old cowhand, down from the Rio Grande
Oh, where the West is wild all around the Borderland
Where the buffalo roam around the zoo
And the engines run up a rug or two
And the old Bar X is just a barbecue, yeah
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
I'm a pioneer who began from scratch
I don't bat an eye in a shootin' match
They don't call me 'Elmer', they call me 'Satch'
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
Get along little horsey, get along little horsey
But my legs ain't bowed and my cheeks ain't tanned
I'm a cowboy who never saw a cow
Never roped a steer cause I don't know how
Sure ain't a fixin' to start in now
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
I'm an old cowhand and I come down from the Rio Grande
And I learned to ride, ride, ride 'fore I learned to stand
I'm a ridin' fool who is up to date
I know every trail in the Lone Star State
Cause I ride the range in a Ford V8
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
We're old cowhands from the Rio Grande
And we come to town just to hear the band
We know all the songs that the cowboys know
'Bout the Big Corral where the doggies go
We learned them all on the radio
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
I'm an old cowhand, down from the Rio Grande
Oh, where the West is wild all around the Borderland
Where the buffalo roam around the zoo
And the engines run up a rug or two
And the old Bar X is just a barbecue, yeah
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
I'm a pioneer who began from scratch
I don't bat an eye in a shootin' match
They don't call me 'Elmer', they call me 'Satch'
Oh, yippee yi yo ki yay
Yippee yi yo ki yay
Get along little horsey, get along little horsey