Ten Thousand Cattle

DESCRIPTION: Perhaps as a result of a bad winter, "Ten thousand cattle have gone astray, Left my range and traveled away." The singer is left destitute. His girl has also left him (for another). Other verses may complain about the weather, his girl's lover, etc.
AUTHOR: Owen Wister (1888?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1904
KEYWORDS: cowboy hardtimes separation disaster
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Larkin-SingingCowboy, pp. 151-153, "Then Thousand Cattle" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HellBoundTrain 6, "Ten Thousand Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tinsley-HeWasSinginThisSong, pp. 88-91, "Ten Thousand Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TENTHOU* TENTHOU2*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 35, #2 (1990), pp, 70-71, "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune, included because it's one of the relatively unexpurgated versions)
John I. White, _Git Along, Little Dogies: Songs and Songmakers of the American West_, 1975 (page references are to the 1989 University of Illinois Press edition), pp. 27-37, "Owen Wister, Songwriter" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a sheet music cover, history of Wister's cowboy writings, and a copy of a letter from Wister about the song)
Roud #5763
NOTES [32 words]: Reported to have been written by Owen Wister (1860-1938; author of The Virginian plus assorted minor poetry) in 1888 based on the experiences of the dreadful winter of 1886/7 in Wyoming. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.1
File: Ohr006

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