Little Joe the Wrangler [Laws B5]

DESCRIPTION: "Little Joe" runs away from home because of a parental remarriage. He is taken in by cowboys and learns how to herd cattle. When a storm starts blowing, he stops a stampede but is killed in the process
AUTHOR: N. Howard Thorp (1898)
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (Thorp's "Songs of the Cowboys"); reportedly written 1898
KEYWORDS: cowboy death
FOUND IN: US(NW,Ro,So,SW)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Laws B5, "Little Joe the Wrangler"
Randolph 203, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (1 text)
Thorp/Fife-SongsOfTheCowboys I, pp. 28-37 (9-11), "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (4 texts -- one of them being "Sister Nell" and another a parody about "Joe... That hung that bunch of cactus on the wall," 1 tune); Thorp/Logsdon-SongsOfTheCowboys, pp. 96-98, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1 text)
Logsdon-WhorehouseBellsWereRinging 2, pp. 32-37, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin-SingingCowboy, pp. 123-126, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, pp. 143-144, Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 79, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tinsley-HeWasSinginThisSong, pp. 84-87, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 423-425, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 166-167, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 265, "Little Joe The Wrangler" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyPoetry, pp. 207-208, "Little Joe, The Wrangler" (1 text)
DT 373, LITTLEJO*
Roud #1930
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (Victor 21470, 1928; Montgomery Ward M-4344, 1933; Montgomery Ward M-4780, 1935)
Leon Chappelear, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (Champion 16497, 1932; Champion 45068, c. 1935; Montgomery Ward 4950/Minerva M-14039, 1936)
Edward L. Crain, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (Crown 3239/Conqueror 8010, 1932; Homestead 22991, c. 1932; Varsity 5043 [as Cowboy Rodgers], n.d.; Montgomery Ward M-3019 [as Bob Star (The Texas Ranger)], n.d.; rec. 1931)
Harry Jackson, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (on HJackson1)
Goebel Reeves, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (Melotone M-12214, 1931; Panachord 25313, 1932; on MakeMe)
Arnold Keith Storm, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (on AKStorm01)
Marc "The Cowboy Crooner" Williams, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (Brunswick 269, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Little Joe the Wrangler's Sister Nell" (subject, tune)
NOTES [93 words]: Larkin-SingingCowboy notes that, in a cattle ride, the horse wrangler (responsible for controlling the horses and bringing them to the riders as needed) stood low in the social hierarchy but often played a vital role when the herd was nervous or the riders busy.
Although the evidence is strong that N. Howard Thorp (who of course first printed it) wrote this song, I have seen a claim that D. J. O'Malley (the probable author of "The Horse Wrangler (The Tenderfoot)" [Laws B27]) is responsible. For this claim, see Sing Out!, volume 41, #2 (1996), p. 134. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: LB05

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