Season 269 - Cowboy Songs

Ugh- this is not perfect (are they ever?) but I played it for two days and fought the doggies (long o) to get it done so here it is warts and all, the best one I got tonight because I cannot miss this party any longer.
Old Bob Wills tune...I love Bob Wills.
And yes. Never cover the Eagles. LOL
 
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For Season 269 of the Ukulele we're asked to play Cowboy songs. When I was a kid one of my favorite TV shows was the Rifleman. This is my arrangement of one of the very important incidental themes (music by Herschel Burke Gilbert) from the show. It was typically used to accompany heart to heart moments between the main character, Lucas McCain, and his son, Mark. I put some lyrics to it (when I play this live I like to tell people that the lyrics were "just recently discovered").
Since there seems to be no official name to the tune I call it "Mark's Theme". I played it here on my early '60s Martin baritone, with whistling and singing.



And if you're interested here's a link to my brother and I doing The Goodnight Loving Trail
 
It was a busy day out here on the range. I've laid out my bedroll and I'm gonna get some shut-eye. Thanks for the sweet serenades, see you at the chuck wagon in the morning.

PhillyV • Big Iron • Doggone it, if I had your voice, I'd sing cowboy songs all day! Well, I do anyway, but not nearly as well as you! I like this a lot!

stanat20 • The Ballad of High Noon • Good song choice, I like your pacing for this one. Well done!

elmann • Apache Tears • Terrific addition to the Season! Yup, Johnny Cash did a bunch of terrific cowboy songs! Thanks for doing this!

wee_ginga_yin* • Who's Gonna Build Your Wall? • Good song! Not a cowboy song, but let's put in in the playlist just because!

AlanDP • The Everlasting Hills Of Oklahoma • Wow, amazing version of this classic! Your whistling in the (I think) clarinet places of the original sounds so good!

AlanDP • Cattle Call • Oh yes! We need lots more yodeling for this roundup! You done good! A few years ago, I remarked to a heavily-tanned friend that he was "brown as a berry," a reference of course to this song. He thought that expression was the oddest thing he ever heard.

TCK • Little Joe the Wrangler • Wow, you know so many amazing songs! I love your version! And yup, dogs is stupid. But I love 'em!

UkeFoote • Mark's Theme • Great lyrics to this tune. I loved the Rifleman when I was a kid, but I don't remember this tune. I gotta go re-watch a couple of episodes!
 
pabrizzer said:
I think this is my last shirt ....

In front of the campfire a lone horseman (they always have a ukulele) sings a song of love


paoriginal
Click to expand...
mate. you are a songwriting machine.
scary thing is there aint a dud amongst em.
it's long past time for you to be makin a rekkid.
 
LimousinLil said:
I have just found out that I have been blocked in the States for copyright infringement by UMPG publishing. It's never happened to me before and there doesn't appear to be anything I can do about it; so, if you wanted to watch in the States, I apologise! Oh, dear ... I shall have to think of something else!
Click to expand...
This officially makes you an outlaw then! Very apt for this thread ;)
 
Harry122 said:
wee_ginga_yin* • Who's Gonna Build Your Wall? • Good song! Not a cowboy song, but let's put in in the playlist just because!
Click to expand...

As I remarked on youtube
[FONT=&quot]In the UK they use the word [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Cowboy Builder[/FONT][FONT=&quot] for a tradesman who does shoddy work
on the grey market and does not pay taxes... does that ring a bell? :)[/FONT]

The BBC used to do a series exposing COWBOY BUILDER. I remember one episode where a
home owner wanted his ceiling plastered and the man who was doing it had more plaster on
the floor than on the ceiling, and the ceiling itself was rough as hell. The house owner complained
about the roughness of the job and the cowboy builder had the audacity to say.

I thought you wanted it rough... if you want it smooth then that is 50€ extra
 
Here's one by the late great Kirsty MacColl. Not sure she wrote it to be sung by a man, but what the heck.

 
LimousinLil said:
I have just found out that I have been blocked in the States for copyright infringement by UMPG publishing. It's never happened to me before and there doesn't appear to be anything I can do about it; so, if you wanted to watch in the States, I apologise! Oh, dear ... I shall have to think of something else!
Click to expand...

I made comments about a raptor band on the yakking thread and it looks like their publishers are still at it. I don't get this over protective attitude. What harm does it do if others sing and record your songs? They still get royalties as YT simply puts ads in front of the video so; what's the problem? I don't get it, I would take it as a compliment. My own view is there a need for a "right to perform" in copyright legislation. Something similar exists in patent legislation to stop companies preventing people developing inventions that might compete with their existing products. You would still be liable for royalties but it would allow others to sing and play their songs and put their own stamp on them.

You could try Vimeo, Val. I they seem to have a somewhat more robust attitude to these guys and a clearer set of policies on copyright material.
 
Cowboy True

Harry122 said:
I like to think of the "Cowboy Era" as something like 1865-1910, when the John B. Stetsons emerged, but the truth is, American cowboys go much farther back than that. There are many misconceptions about cowboys, many due to Hollywood. For instance, most people do not realize that a huge percentage of cowboys were African-American. Early movies did not reflect that.
Click to expand...
Picking up on that theme, website American Cowboy said this of this song, which it chose as one of its Top 20 Cowboy Songs in the Past 20 Years and the best single cowboy song for the year 2000:
American Cowboy; May 8 2014 said:
Cowboy True, "Curly" Jim Musgrove: A splendid telling of the multi-ethnic make up of the old-time drovers. Not bad for a Canadian-born therapist and counselor. He will be missed!*
Click to expand...
I've spent most of the week (between coughing like a miner and clearing a U-bend!) trying to work out the chords and decipher the lyrics ("I was born in a co-ho-gun", anybody?), as they aren't anywhere to be found on the wonderweb. I was so focused on that that I didn't spot the potential tongue-twister until I was upon it - at which point I present unto you my best Seán Connery impersonation!



Original is here, though how long it stays here depends on how long it takes for me to get a copyright strike!

*"Curly" Jim Musgrave 1943-2009
 


After my disaster with the copyright on The Eagles, I have sort of "gone off" conventional cowboy songs, so I hope this one is acceptable, Randy. It comes from "Brokeback Mountain" ... a story of love and modern cowboys (which I've never actually seen). I am wearing my cowboy hat to prove that it IS actually a cowboy song!
 
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