Cowboy's Life (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "The bawl of a steer To a cowboy's ear Is music of sweetest strain; And the yelping notes Of the gray coyotes To him are a glad refrain." The cowboy recalls home and girl, and concludes, "Saddle up, boys, For the work is play."
AUTHOR: James Barton Adams?
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work home nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Thorp/Logsdon-SongsOfTheCowboys, pp. 44-45, "The Cowboy's Life" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyPoetry, p. 219-220, "The Cowboy's Life" (1 text)
Roud #8062
NOTES [55 words]: Given the metre, the form, the contents, and the Lomaxness of this item, I'd bet a lot that it isn't traditional; John Lomax doubtless threw it into Cowboy Songs just to add bulk to the volume, and Thorp then picked it up in a sort of "you stole my songs, I'll steal yours" tit-for-tat. But we can't prove it, so here it is. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.3
File: Saffe219

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography