Promotional Information

Bawdy material has always been integral to cowboy culture... Logsdon, with great skill and humor, corrects this long-bowdlerized occupational record. -- Archie Green

Table of Contents

Preface   xi
Acknowledgments   xxi
I. The Singers   1
II. Songs about Cowboys   23
1. "Charlie Rutledge"   27
2. "Little Joe, the Wrangler"   32
3. "The Mormon Cowboy"   38
4. "Billie Vanero"   42
5. "Cowboy Jack"   48
6. "School Ma'am on the Flat"   53
7. "Texas Ranger's Lament"   55
8. "The Child's Prayer"   58
9. "Jimmie Tucker"   60
10. "The Crooked Trail to Holbrook"   70
11. "Red Light Saloon"   74
12. "Old Zebra Dun"   77
13. "The Castration of the Strawberry Roan"   86
14. "The Flyin' U Twister"   97
15. "Wild Buckaroo"   102
16. "The Open Book"   108
17. "The Skewbald Black"   118
18. "The Old Black Steer"   123
19. "The Soughrty Petes"   127
20. "They're Down and They're Down"   133
21. "The Buckskin Shirt"   136
22. "Root, Hog, or Die"   140
III. Other Songs Cowboys Sing   143
23. "The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing"   145
24. "Lorena"   149
25. "My Lula Gal"   154
26. "Boring for Oil"   160
27. "The Banks of My Native Australia"   163
28. "All Night Long"   167
29. "The Gay Caballero"   169
30. "California Joe"   173
31. "The Days of Forty-nine"   179
32. "Joe Williams"   182
33. "Bad Company"   186
34. "Haunted Falls"   190
35. "Juanita"   195
36. "Oh! My! You're a Dandy for Nineteen Years Old"   197
37. "Sweet Sixteen"   200
38. "The Boogaboo"   203
39. "Red WIng"   207
40. "The Little Mohea"   211
41. "Sweet Betsy from Pike"   215
42. "The Country Girl"   219
43. "The Oaks of Jimderia"   222
44. "Cousin Harry"   224
45. "The Poor Girl on the Town"   226
46. "The Old Tom Cat"   228
47. "The Stinkin' Cow"   230
48. "The Cuckoo's Nest"   232
49. "Old Horny Kebri-o"   235
50. "Old Man's Lament"   238
51. "London Town"   241
52. "The Sea Crab"   245
53. "One-Eyed Riley"   249
54. "The Keyhole in the Door"   253
55. "The Buttons on His Pants"   256
56. "Down, Derry Down"   258
57. "The Jolly Baker"   261
58. "The Saddest Face in the Mining Town"   265
59. "The Irishman"   268
60. "Peter Pullin' Blues"   271
61. "Honky-Tonk Asshole"   275
IV. A Singing Cowboy Roundup   279
Glossary   347
Bibliography   355
Index   377

About the Author

Guy Logsdon lectured and performed as America's Senior Cowboy Song-Poetry Scholar. He was director of libraries and a professor of American folklife at the University of Tulsa. He was the coauthor of Woody's Road; Woody Guthrie's Letters Home, Drawings, Photos, and Other Unburied Treasures and Saddle Serenaders. He died in 2018.

Reviews

"One of the finest works to come out in recent years on cowboy songs, in addition to being the first good collection of the cowboy's bawdy material. . . . A must for anyone who is a student of cowboy music--or anyone who just likes the sound of dirty subject matter rhyming."--Hal Cannon, Journal of Country Music

"A brave and honest step toward increasing our understanding of what cowboys really sing."--Bob Bovee, Old Time Herald

"A thorough piece of scholarship and collectanea and a valuable, welcome addition to cowboy song literature."--Keith Cunningham, Mid-America Folklore

"Logsdon has written the book with a scholar's attention to detail. But what shows through the scholarship is the collector's enthusiasm for the material. . . . A superb job in a difficult area."--Angus Kress Gillespie, Journal of American History

"A major contribution to the folklore and popular culture, history, and social psychology of American cowboy culture." -- Kenneth S. Goldstein, former president, American Folklore Society