"Yippy-i-o, Cow Patty"

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
Gotcha to look - good!

Western music ... my impression is that a lot of the old traditional western songs and quite a few of them written in the past 50 plus years are sad, melancholy, and give the impression of lack of hope - Streets of Laredo, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Don't Take Your Guns to Town, etc. There are a few on the other side of the coin - Buffalo Gals, Buttons and Bows, etc. What's your impression of songs that are associated with the American West?

Part 2 - Do you have a favorite western song or western song singer or song writer?

I think I'm stuck on Burl Ives, Ghost Riders in the Sky, as my all time favorite, but I love so many of the western songs. Puma
 

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
Ian Tyson--Four Strong Winds. I first heard it from Neil Young. I'm not much of a country music fan but when I heard Tyson's version I fell hard. Where I live we call those sad, sad country songs "Tears in My Ears" songs. Nothing like sitting all night at a roadhouse bar, staring at a stuffed raccoon mounted over the cash register and listening to Freddy Fender punched into the jukebox ninety two times by a broken hearted and just paid neighbor. Now there is an earful of tears! --s6
 
Last edited:

lilmizflashythang

Registered
Joined
May 21, 2009
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
I would have said Tim McGraw and his Don't Take the Girl, but you asked for western and not country. I really didn't pay too much attention to the differences, however Chris LeDeuix is pretty good.
 

J'Dubee

I make tall stories short
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
283
Reaction score
44
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
Website
www.jdubee.com
Surely you mean Country/western...

and Bluegrass ~~ Thanks to Bill Monroe.

Tough Choices.

Male Singers: Willie Nelson, George Jones, Ray Price & Eddie Arnold

Female Singers: Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, & k. d. lang

favorite Country type music: Western Swing, ... Bob Wills and Spade Cooley


In life, I like it all , including Classical and Opera... Rap ~~ not so much, but I been known to Not turn the dial when some comes on a radio.


This thread made me think.

Favorite Song: Over the Rainbow by either Judy Garland or Willie Nelson. (LOL, but true)

Favorite singer's voices: Frank Sinatra and Doris Day

Favorite Instrumental Music" Saxophone with Charlie Parker
 
Last edited:

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
Don't forget the "Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas"--Bob Wills. Pistol Packing Momma is a good Western tune too. It's by Al Dexter. My Dad used to sing it when we were kids--s6
 

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
Country and Bluegrass count - I mentioned "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" by Johnny Cash. He's got quite a few set in the west - "Ira Hayes", "Custer", "Apache Tears", etc. (Cash is my hubby's favorite).

Me, I'm like Jay - I like all kinds of music but not so much rap and hip-hop. I have trouble naming favorites. Puma
 

J'Dubee

I make tall stories short
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
283
Reaction score
44
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
Website
www.jdubee.com
I doubt any cowboy in the 1880's could yodel...

but leave us not forget, Gene Autry ~~ Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy.

I never succeeded in learning. My brother could yodel, and he was a whistler too, did a pretty good Mockingbird imitation.

Trivia: "The Cowboy's Lament" aka "Laredo", dates back to the late 1870's.
 

HarryHoskins

Straw-fed
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 5, 2011
Messages
6,239
Reaction score
592
Location
On the nickel
Too many to choose from, so I'll avoid the obvious and name John Jacob Niles & Ralph Stanley as a couple of fellas who might could deserve some attention. :)
 
Last edited:

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
I've always thought of John Jacob Niles as a folk-singer, more eastern mountains, rather than a western singer.

On the western singers - let's not forget "Happy Trails to You". I have no idea how many episodes of the Roy Rogers show I watched on TV.

But, when I think of western music, I think more of the songs that were created at the time of the opening / expansion of the west. Jay pegged Laredo at the 1870's. The Chisolm Trail predates that (and was a real trail driving song). And there are so many others, historic songs, that portray the west - Goodbye Old Paint, Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie, Don't Fence Me In, Git Along Little Dogies. There are probably some story ideas in them too. Puma
 

Dave Hardy

Don't let your deal go down,
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Messages
959
Reaction score
87
Location
'Til your last gold dollar is gone.
I like both kinds of music, Country and Western.

John Hartford's version of Lorena is a fantastic rendition of a mid-19th classic. Definitely on the sad side.

My favorite modern gunfighter ballad is Marty Robbins' El Paso. Another sad one.

I like a lot of old-timey music. Jay mentioned Bob Wills, who had a fantastic ability to mix old-time tunes with modern Dixieland & dance music. Jimmie Rodgers was also amazing, throwing Blues, Jazz, Dixieland, traditional balladry & all things Southern into his musical blender. He kind of gets the credit for "inventing" Country music. To be fair, Jimmie Rodgers was more Country than Western, though he could sing a cowboy song with the best.

I listen to a lot of Skillet Lickers. They were an old-timey band from Georgia who recorded back in the 1920s. They did real down-home fiddle music. Soldier's Joy (which dates back to the 1700s) and Hell Broke Loose in Georgia are two of the best.

You can find a lot of old-time music on Internet Archive.
 

Dave Hardy

Don't let your deal go down,
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Messages
959
Reaction score
87
Location
'Til your last gold dollar is gone.
What Was Your name in the States?

There was one old pioneer song that is not exactly sad, though perhaps not precisely a joyous love song. What Was Your Name in the States? poked fun at '49ers who had a reason to go West (gently poked, I suppose, you wouldn't want to make them fellas mad).

What Was Your Name in the States?

Oh, what was your name in the States
Was it Thompson, or Johnson, or Bates
Did you murder your wife and fly for your life
Say, what was your name in the States
 

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
Yeah, love Big Iron on His Hip. There are just so many of them! Puma
 

FOTSGreg

Today is your last day.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 5, 2007
Messages
7,760
Reaction score
947
Location
A land where FTL travel is possible and horrible t
Website
Www.fire-on-the-suns.com
Marty Robbins was the bomb. "Big Iron" remains one of my favorite songs to this day.

Don't forget Johnny Horton with such hits as "The Ballad of the Alamo", "Comanche", "North To Alaska", "Johnny Reb", "Mr. Lincoln", and "The Battle of New Orleans".

Dan Fogelberg also stands out in my book with such classics as "Sutter's Mill", "High Country Snows", "Go Down Easy", and others.
 

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
The Battle of New Orleans is high on my list of favorites too. So much Americana! Puma
 

ladyleeona

fluently sarcastic grandma offender
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 3, 2010
Messages
932
Reaction score
138
Location
wherever the Jose is.
It does seem like there's lots of sadness and dying in the old western songs. Pretty melancholy, but beautiful all the same. Haunting, I guess would be a better term.


Marty Robbins and Johnny Horton all the way. Both my favorites of my Dad, so not liking them wasn't exactly an option J. As far as individual songs, Ghost Riders in the Sky is probably my favorites, but I the Cash cover best.

And now this thread has me western-surfing all over youtube, LOL. :)
 

Haggis

Evil, undead Chihuahua
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
56,217
Reaction score
18,303
Location
A dark, evil place.
Dave Hardy brought up my favorite. For me, Marty Robbins was the king of the western song. From Big Iron On His Hip, to El Paso, which is probably the most famous western song of all time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgI5DMVegIk&feature=related

The sequel, El Paso City, is also wonderful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN0Jp7FV_cs&feature=related

Marty Robbins was the bomb. "Big Iron" remains one of my favorite songs to this day.

Don't forget Johnny Horton with such hits as "The Ballad of the Alamo", "Comanche", "North To Alaska", "Johnny Reb", "Mr. Lincoln", and "The Battle of New Orleans".

Dan Fogelberg also stands out in my book with such classics as "Sutter's Mill", "High Country Snows", "Go Down Easy", and others.
Yep, yep, yep. For a guy who doesn't like country songs, I sure loved a lot of country songs.
 

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
They have a way of getting to ya. :) Puma
 

Elenitsa

writing as Marina Costa
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 20, 2011
Messages
976
Reaction score
765
Location
Bucharest, Romania
Website
caribbeandawn1720.jcink.net
The older the songs are, the more I love them. "Shenandoah", for example, "A boy named Sue", and "The Red River Valley". Also others, less classical - "El Paso", some Johnny Cash's and Joan Baez's...
 

porlock

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
918
Reaction score
98
Location
West Texas
There's always folklorist John Lomax "Cowboy Songs and other Frontier Ballads" (1910) before Tin Pan Alley took over. Also you can pick Cowboy Poetry Meetings on u-tube. "Strawberry Roan" is a favorite but it was a poem by a real cowboy long before Marty Robbins sang it.
 

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
This might be off topic a bit but I heard "Long Black Veil" recently but it was in weird circs that I cannot quite remember. I was busy in another room and one of my g-kids was watching something on TV that was too modern for me. The lyrics caught my attention before the music, which was way too hoppy for the song. I mean no one can forget those lyrics. It was a real WTF? moment. I stepped out to tell the g-kids that someone was royally screwing up a good song. My rant received the typical response Poor Old Grammy has lost it again. I went back to what I was doing, muttering about g-kids and dipshit, snot nosed music screwers, and forgot the whole thing until I caught up on this thread.

Does anyone know the new version of this song or the movie. I'd like to say that it was PG-13, but now that they are teens they pretty much tell me everything is PG-13. --s6
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,049
Location
Los Angeles
This might be off topic a bit but I heard "Long Black Veil" recently but it was in weird circs that I cannot quite remember. I was busy in another room and one of my g-kids was watching something on TV that was too modern for me. The lyrics caught my attention before the music, which was way too hoppy for the song. I mean no one can forget those lyrics. It was a real WTF? moment. I stepped out to tell the g-kids that someone was royally screwing up a good song. My rant received the typical response Poor Old Grammy has lost it again. I went back to what I was doing, muttering about g-kids and dipshit, snot nosed music screwers, and forgot the whole thing until I caught up on this thread.

Does anyone know the new version of this song or the movie. I'd like to say that it was PG-13, but now that they are teens they pretty much tell me everything is PG-13. --s6

OMG, this is gonna bug me. Best song written from the ghost's perspective. I remember hearing that cover too and having the same "Weak-sauce kids don't understand real country" reaction, as a thirty-something who grew up in the coastal suburbs, of course. So many cover versions to pick through (including, of course, the Johnny Cash version). Nick Cave did a cover in the Eighties, obviously The Band did a good version, so did Mike Ness and the Boss, YMMV on the Dave Matthews and Iron & Wine covers. But i dunno if any of those are the ones you're thinking of.
 
Last edited:

porlock

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
918
Reaction score
98
Location
West Texas
Ian Tyson has written several western songs, Don Edwards is also one you might want to check out if interested in "western" songs. A lot of the older country stars had the "Rinestone Cowboy" look and there was a connection there, and still is, except not as flashy. I've written some "cowboy" poetry myself. "The last cowboy song" I believe by Ed Bruce is a good one.