The Original American Hero

"He was only a cowboy gone on before

He was only a cowboy, we will never see more,

He was doing his duty on the old NA range

But now he is sleeping on the old staked plains."

-"Only A Cowboy"

Hell For Leather

An oil painting by Steve Atkinson

Sometimes one would make a break,

Across the prairie he would take.

As if running for a stake,-

It seemed to to them but play,

Sometimes I could not head them at all,

Sometimes my horse would catch a fall

And I'd shoot on like a cannon ball

Till the earth came in my way."

-"The Horse Wrangler"

The White Stallion

A painting by George Phippen

"I left the State of Texas, for Arizona I was bound;

I landed in Tombstone City, I viewed the place all round.

Money and work were plentiful and the cowboys they were kind

But the only thought of my heart was the girl I left behind.

-"The Rambling Cowboy"

A painting by Andy Thomas

He may not win the laurel

Nor trumpet tongue of fame,

But beauty smiles upon him,

And ranchmen bless his name.

Then here's to the Texas Ranger,

Past, present and to come!

Our safety from the savage,

The guardian of our home."

-"Here's To The Ranger"

Texas Rangers

"Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,

Where the deer and the antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day."

-"Home On The Range"

Thoroughman's Home On The Range

A painting by Charles Marion Russell

(1897)

"Home On The Range"

Lyrics written by Dr. Brewster M. Highly

(1872)

The original authors of the rest of the above quoted

songs are unknown. These songs are considered

part of the folklore of the American West.

An excellent compilation of these and other cowboy songs

and western ballads can be found in the book,

"Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads"

which the author, John Avery Lomax,

dedicated to President Theodore Roosevelt

"Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads"

By John Avery Lomax

(c. 1910, 1916)

Sturgis and Walton Company