Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Cowgirl Way Hats Off to America's Women of the West by Holly George-Warren Cowboy Quotes, Sayings, and Wisdom. Inscription on Mr. Wayne's headstone: "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learnt something from yesterday." Roy Rogers. Jack Sorenson. "I didn't have the guts to become an artist, I had the ignorance." ". God gave me my talent and I was afraid of facing him one day if I didn't use it." To see more cowboy quote decals, please see this page: Cowboy Quote Decals. Cowboy Campfire Songs. 'Round The Campfire Vinyl Record Memories. Featuring "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" Cowboy Campfire Songs came to life after a kind visitor to this site requested I do a section on some of the original cowboy songs. It's been a while, actually quite a while, since I originally thought about reaching back into my early childhood saddlebags and pull out those Cowboy Songs I remember so well growing up in southern Ohio in the very early 50s. I recall those early years with vivid images and special memories of those silver screen cowboys and thinking. maybe I should have been a cowboy too. My heros always had the fastest horse, the fanciest shirt, the hardest left hook, a hat that wouldn't fall off even in the darndest fight, and a shoot-em up six gun that never needed reloading. He was the best of the hard-riding straight shooting, headin'-em-off-at-the-pass, white hatted, white horsed good guy hero of the favorite Saturday afternoon double feature known as the b-western. So come with me and let's relive those happy childhood days and the cowboy songs and words to all our favorite western classics. When cowboys like Buck Jones, Johnny Mack Brown, Ken Maynard, Tom Mix, Bob Steele, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry would ride into your favorite Saturday matinee movie theater and you and your buddies could sit around the campfire with your favorite cowboy hero's and sing until the stars fell out. Remember those bygone days when you could get a ticket, box of popcorn, cold drink and maybe squeeze in a box of milk-duds or good-and- plenty for around fifty cents. Life was good for me and my buddies watching those Saturday afternoon cowboy shows at the Linden theater in Lindenwald, a suburb of Hamilton, Ohio. Are you ready? Polish up your spurs, Saddle up ole paint and get ready to relive your childhood! Cowboy Campfire Songs "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Bob Nolan, a co-founder of The Sons of the Pioneers, was without a doubt one of the finest songwriters ever to write Western music, and his classic 1932 composition was "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Nolan recalled that he first wrote the song about "tumbling leaves," but when it was sung on the group's daily radio show in Hollywood, requests started pouring in for them to "sing about the tumbling weeds." He took the hint, changed the tune slightly to accommodate the extra syllables and created "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Tumbling Tumbleweeds Takes Len Slye From Singing Star to Movie Star. Those memorable scenes of rollin' tumbleweeds, buckin' broncos and rugged cowboys wouldn't be the same without these Cowboy Classics by the Sons of The Pioneers. They had made movies with western stars including Gene Autry when a remarkable stroke of fate suddenly deprived them of one of their founding members, Leonard Slye. A Warner scout heard him singing the Sons' theme, Tumbling Tumbleweeds, and set about signing him up for a western movie, "Under Western Skies." Deciding that "Len Slye" was not quite marquee material, the movie moguls went into a huddle and came up with a name better adapted to display in lights. You May of heard of it. In 1937, Leonard Slye took the name Roy Rogers and was forced by his new employers, Republic Pictures, to leave the group. The Sons of The Pioneers continued on and would appear in more than a hundred movies. They composed and played the musical scores for pictures starring many, including their co-founder and friend, Roy Rogers. Michael Martin Murphy - Cowboy Songs. Michael Martin Murphy is my favorite Cowboy Singer. Listen to him sing some of the very best Cowboy songs ever recorded. I believe no other individual sings these Cowboy Songs better than Michael Martin Murphy. Just my opinion. I have chosen this singing cowboy to do the cover on my cowboy campfire songs I add to these pages. His songs are sung in the tradition of the Sons of the Pioneers, with all the heart-felt sincerity of their great songs and their quiet end-of-the-day, round-the-campfire quality. Listening to Michael Martin Murphy sing these amazing "Cowboy Campfire Songs" is a home on the range treat for anyone who understands cowboys and cows. In Michael's own words. "I started singing cowboy songs when I was 15 years old around the campfire at Sky Ranch in Lewisville, Texas. I've managed to live out West and stay on horseback. Give me a good steel-string guitar, a good pony, nights under western stars and a "home on the range" when I'm too old to ride." Excerpts from Michael Martin Murphy, Cowboy Songs album, 1990. True western songs will pull you into a unique genre and much different than the "Country Western" music of today. Here is an excellent example of how true he is to the cowboy way as Murphy shows his singing talent in this cowboy campfire classic, Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Campfire Songs will carry you into a world of legends, lullabies and longhorn cattle. And for the real cowboy songs listener, what better world could there be? You might like these. Last Cowboy Song Lyrics | Is this the Best Cowboy Song ever? The Last Cowboy Song Lyrics was written by Ron Peterson and Ed Bruce in 1980. Is this the Best Cowboy Song ever? Maybe not but the lyrics are unforgettable and tells a real cowboy story. City Of New Orleans Lyrics | Is this the Best Train Song ever? The Steve Goodman City of New Orleans lyrics is a well-written train song with a beautiful message. The haunting lyrics re-create a time some 50 years ago when people traveled by train from Chicago to New Orleans. Dance With Me Lyrics | Johnny Rodriguez Vinyl Record Memories. Dance With Me Lyrics was written and recorded by Johnny Rodriguez and was his #2 song from 1974. One of the prettiest waltzes ever. "Dance with me once again darlin'. Though you no longer be mine. Soften the pains that are starting. Dance with me just one more time." News Archive: 2007. The following is an article excerpted from CMT.com's news archive. Riders in the Sky Saddle Up With Los Angeles Philharmonic for Three-Night Celebration By Tom Roland. LOS ANGELES – The cowboy is a uniquely American icon, a rugged image associated with the nation's expansion, the early days of the cinema and the pioneering era of country music, formerly known as country & western. So it's only appropriate that the cowboy became the centerpiece for a celebration at the vaunted Hollywood Bowl, as Riders in the Sky joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic under western skies Monday (July 2) in the first of three nights honoring the legacies of John Wayne and Gene Autry, who were each born 100 years ago. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Autry had a huge impact on 20th century American culture, building many of the blocks upon which modern country music was built: He headlined a rodeo that annually spent a month at New York's Madison Square Garden decades before Kenny Chesney or Rascal Flatts ever hoped to play the venue for just one night. He became one of the genre's first strong businessmen, lending his name to lunchboxes and guitars, buying radio stations and founding the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball franchise long before Reba McEntire put her name on clothing and before Garth Brooks reclaimed the rights to his own recordings. And Autry's use of the silver screen and TV to develop a specific image were years ahead of the video revolution. In fact, the image that Autry burnished in the public mind still echoes in the visages of George Strait and Alan Jackson, among others. Autry never saw himself as a spectacular performer in any field. He was more pleasant than passionate as a vocalist, and no one ever held him in the kind of esteem as an actor that was bestowed upon, say, Marlon Brando. But he was tireless as a public figure and devoted to using his platform for the benefit of his fellow citizens. "I want to show [the kids] that in this country everybody has a chance – just as I did," he's quoted in Gene Autry and the Twentieth-Century West: The Centennial Exhibition on display at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles through Jan. 13. "We should show young people the decent, good things that are in this country; things that don't exist now in other countries of the world." To that end, he regularly visited children in hospitals of the towns where he performed, and he showed his support for the nation's efforts in World War II by publicly enlisting in the service on his national radio show – and by refusing to wrangle out of military duty when the head of the Republic film studio suggested they push for a deferment. Autry's ideals were, it would appear, as black and white as the film on which he was most often presented. They're certainly anachronistic in an era that finds the raunchy image of a Paris Hilton acceptable and gives the use of steroids in baseball little more than a shrug. Riders in the Sky's unique ability to play with that other-era dichotomy made them the perfect voice for the Autry celebration in what is arguably the perfect venue. The Hollywood Bowl is just three exits down U.S. 101 from Autry's former home and a little more than two miles from Gower Gulch, the area where the studios that made the first Western films were located. The Riders' get-up – chaps, fringe, cowboy hats and boots – plays right into Yosemite Sam visuals, and their smooth, masculine vocal work mirrors the easygoing nature of western music's most acclaimed group, the Sons of the Pioneers (who, incidentally, came to fame on L.A. radio station KFWB.) But the Riders wisely play with the out-of-step nature of the cowboy way they help to preserve. Bassist Too Slim grabbed his saguaro-shaped neckwear in mock surprise: "Black tie!? I thought it said 'cacti!" He would also deliver a weirdly funny rap that turned Eminem's Slim Shady character to Too Slim and made a fairly modern reference with a parting Star Wars allusion: "May the horse be with you." Ranger Doug, the Riders' lead vocalist, proved to be a remarkable speed yodeler. Complementing Woody Paul's nimble work as a fiddler, Joey Miskulin provided an important link to western music's Mexican influences with his conjunto-flavored accordion. And they hit the highlights of western music's progression, kicking off with Autry's signature "Back in the Saddle Again," kicking up dust with the Pioneers' "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," running through their own contributions to the animated Toy Story 2 and closing with the Roy Rogers classic, "Happy Trails." Most of the silver-screen cowboys have ridden off into the sunset, though their effects can still be detected in country's current evolution. The ubiquitous Stetson still tops the heads of Brad Paisley and Toby Keith, and cowboy themes play in such hits as Tim McGraw's "The Cowboy in Me" and Big & Rich's "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)." Even the storyline of Autry's "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)" is reprised in Strait's hit version of Merle Haggard's "The Seashores of Old Mexico." In this centennial year, Autry is being remembered in a big way, and not just with the Hollywood Bowl series, which concludes Wednesday (July 4). Holly George-Warren wrote an engaging biography, Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry . Vince Gill, John Anderson and Glen Campbell lead a bevy of artists in the just-released album, Boots Too Big to Fill: A Tribute to Gene Autry , and Riders in the Sky reissued an album of Autry songs, including "Sioux City Sue," "Mexicali Rose" and "Be Honest With Me." The latter title provides something of a clue about the way his legacy is being treated. Both the George-Warren book and the Autry Center exhibit are honest about his history, acknowledging both his successes and his weaknesses, particularly a midlife battle with the bottle. That's probably part of the reason the cowboy prospered as an American icon in the first place: He never backed down from a fight, even if that fight was with himself. Autry, in his public persona and it seems in his private life, embodied a good-natured feistiness that represents how most Americans choose to see themselves. The ‘cowboy way’ is the latest target of political correctness that replaces grit with wimpery. In 1949, as part of its “Riders in the Sky” promotion, a film studio released Gene Autry’s 10-sentence Cowboy Code. The code resurfaced in 2007 in a biography of the movie star by Holly George-Warren, a prolific chronicler of America’s popular culture. The reason it’s included below is because cowboys are being thrown under the horse, along with “farting cows.” They’re the latest targets of the political correctness that seeks to replace American grit with a nihilistic creed of wimpery. Actually, it started years ago, when leftists thought they had delivered a roundhouse punch against Ronald Reagan, and later, George W. Bush, by deriding them as “cowboys.” That made the two men rugged icons to many Americans. The same cultural vandals made another stupid mistake by dismissively dubbing Mr. Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative “Star Wars.” They actually thought that linking the high-tech missile defense system to one of the most popular movie franchises of all time would help kill it. Now, in Orange County, California, tin-ear activists are seeking to rename John Wayne Airport and remove the Duke’s statue over fatally “insensitive” remarks he made in 1971. It’s only a matter of time before they demand that all copies of his movies be burned in a cleansing ceremony, along with anything Thomas Jefferson wrote. Meanwhile, the University of Wyoming is facing a leftist uprising over its new slogan, “The World Needs More Cowboys.” The sports teams have long been called the Cowboys. Wyoming’s license plates feature a cowboy on a bucking bronc, and Cheyenne boasts one of the world’s most famous rodeos. Nonetheless, the slogan should be “shelved” according to the UW Committee on Women and People of Color, and replaced with one that “represents the diversity of the people and cultures” at the college. Like what, “The World Needs More Non-Binary Cowpersons?” “I am not the only person for whom the word ‘cowboy’ invokes a white, macho, male, able-bodied, heterosexual, U.S.-born person,” associate professor of kinesiology and health Christine Porter told the student paper, the Boomerang, as reported in Campus Reform. “The history of cowboys, of course, is much more diverse than that racially, and presumably also for sexual orientation,” she conceded. “But the image — what the word ‘cowboy’ means off the top of almost everybody’s head in the U.S. — is the white, heterosexual male.” Can’t have that, even if the sheepherder film “Brokeback Mountain” was supposed to save cowboys from stereotyping as incurable straights. If they could just get enough power, the cultural vandals would wipe out all mention of white males in U.S. history — except for the self-hating ones in today’s Democratic Party, including the Virginia governor and attorney general who appeared in blackface but, well, they’re Democrats, so all is forgiven. Why would anyone stay in a party where you’re told that your very existence is a detriment? For that matter, why would black Americans stay in a party that has kept them in economic bondage and patronized them for decades? Here’s to the #WalkAway movement. Getting back to self-hating white males, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who in real life is Robert Francis O’Rourke, has made it clear he’s OK that his whiteness is a disadvantage. “The government at all levels is overly represented by white men,” he told Vanity Fair. “That’s part of the problem, and I’m a white man . Almost every single one of our presidents has been a white man. And [people] want something different for this country. I think that’s a very legitimate basis upon which to make a decision.” Really? What a chump Martin Luther King Jr. must have been, going on about the importance of character. Democratic white males need to do some public self-loathing early and often and hope that it shields them. I think Joe Biden still needs some work. Also, they might want to think about hinting at a previously unknown transgender fling. America has not always been aswarm with institutionalized insanity. Here’s the Cowboy Code: 1, The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage. 2. He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him. 3. He must always tell the truth. 4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals. 5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas. 6. He must help people in distress. 7. He must be a good worker. 8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits. 9. He must respect women, parents, and his nation’s laws. 10. The Cowboy is a patriot. The university says it plans to stick with the cowboy campaign. Officials are “undaunted,” emphasizing that the term evokes ‘the spirit of the cowboy that we all kind of share in.’” • Robert Knight is a contributor to The Washington Times. Sign up for Daily Opinion Newsletter. Copyright © 2021 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. Dress code for the Western guy. Wranglers, snap shirts, and cowboy hats — horse optional. First of all, I am not an expert in how Western women should dress, although after wandering around Denver's annual Great Western Stock Show this winter, the only rule I could see was that whatever a woman wears is supposed to be tight. Second, given that 99.9 percent of the men in the West do not qualify as cowboys, a group rapidly disappearing from the West, we should probably not wear cowboy clothes any more. John Wayne movies notwithstanding, real cowboys decades ago probably sported more dirt and dust than anything we'd care to emulate. Despite this, I realize that some guys still want to dress in what they think of as Western style, and there do seem to be some rules about how to do it right. The first tip is to wear a shirt that has pearl snaps instead of buttons. The shirt can be plain, plaid, striped or even embroidered -- the more garish the better. They say the snaps prevent you from being pulled off your non-existent horse if the shirt gets caught on a branch. The bright colors are so somebody sees you dangling from the mesquite. The second rule is you have to wear Wranglers, because the seams that might chafe you on a horse are on the outside of your leg. The legs must also be way too long and bunch up on your boots so that when you get on your imaginary saddle, your pants won't ride up above your boot tops. This leads naturally to the third rule, which decrees that your boots must cost an arm and a leg because they are made from ostrich, eel, elephant or snakeskin. Fourth, you have to have a big belt and a giant buckle announcing that you won first place in an obscure local rodeo, bullthrowing or maybe hornswoggling. Strangely, cowboy hats are now optional. However, if you do wear one, it has to be expensive and black. You have to wear it all the time, and should you, God forbid, take it off, remember to put it down, rim up. As for accoutrements, bolo ties seem to be optional, and actual horses are unnecessary. Few Western males have one because horses are mostly owned by teenage girls, and their upkeep is the responsibility of their impoverished, but doting, parents. It is cheaper to maintain a Rolls-Royce than a horse. All of the above is your basic Western look. Over time, however, variations have emerged: IVY LEAGUE WEST : If you are from an Eastern college and do not want to be confused with a local, choose a button-down shirt, tweed jacket, new jeans with a frighteningly pronounced crease and cowboy boots. Oh, and carry a book. SANTA FE ARTISTIC : You wear a jacket or vest with a geometric pattern and silver buttons. Ideally the jacket or vest should be made from an Indian blanket or Chimayo rug but the Pendleton blanket alternative is more common and cheaper. A ponytail in any color including gray and a watchband sporting chunks of turquoise are nice additions. TEXAS GOOD OL' BOY : Put on a bolo tie, big white hat and large belt buckle to mesh with a substantial beer belly. Your Wranglers, attached somewhere under your gut, should look as though they're held in place by magic. Wear your belly proudly: You won it by making a longtime commitment to beer and barbecue. SATURDAY NIGHT BUCKEROO : Just dress like the early cinema cowboys Roy Rogers or Gene Autry and don't pack a gun. You should look all hat, no cattle, as they say. REAL COWBOY : Maybe some men on the professional rodeo circuit are cowboys, but most of the real ones are drifter ranch hands barely paid more than the minimum wage. Most dude ranch hands are Easterners or guys from the Midwest who grow mustaches and put on twangy accents to pick up girls. Guys who really grew up on a working ranch don't want to have anything to do with horses and cows: They like ATVs or motorcycles. I read somewhere that the first cowboys were Native Americans forced by the Spanish to take care of their herds. Others were blacks riding herd for a white master. Many were poor uneducated white kids. The real cowboy outfit these days, is probably a gimme baseball cap, J.C.Penney or Wal-Mart shirts, worn jeans and lace-up trappers or ropers. Western duds are really all about practicality: If a horse pulls up lame or you have to walk a long ways, high-heeled, pointy-toed boots are not what you want on your feet. Nor do you want to find yourself walking in horse hockey with those pricey Tony Lamas.