My Home's in Montana

DESCRIPTION: "My home's in Montana, I wear a bandana, My spurs are of silver, my pony is gray. While riding the ranges my luck never changes, With my foot in the stirrup I gallop for aye." The cowboy sketches the life of a horseman following cattle in the wilderness
AUTHOR: Words: Christine Turner Curtis (?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 ("Singing Days" series)
KEYWORDS: work cowboy nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Ohrlin-HellBoundTrain 1, "My Home's in Montana" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #72, "Cowboy Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin-SingingCowboy, pp. 30-31, "The Cowboy's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune, with four verses that are clearly "Streets of Laredo" but an opening that is "My Home's in Montana")
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 247, "My Home's in Montana" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tobitt-TheDittyBag, p. 51, "My Home's in Montana" (1 text, 1 tune)
GirlScout-PocketSongbook, p. 22, "My Home's in Montana" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter, floating lyrics) and references there
cf. "The Unfortunate Rake" (tune, floating lyrics)
NOTES [62 words]: This was apparently composed (based on elements of "The Streets of Laredo") as a cowboy song suitable for young people. There are reports of versions from Montana, possibly unprintable. See the notes in Ohrlin for the background.
Larkin-SingingCowboy's text may be a "missing link": It's largely "Streets of Laredo," but it starts with the "home in Montana" half-verse. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: Ohr001

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