“The Cowboy's Dream”

Description

"One night as I lay on the prairie... I wondered if ever a cowboy Could drift to that sweet by and by.... Roll on, roll on, roll on, little dogies, roll on, roll on...." A cowboy's reflections on the afterlife, with the images cast in herding terms

Notes

An extended discussion of the authorship of this piece is found in Thorp/Fife. What it seems to boil down to is that several people played a role, and none can claim the whole thing.

It was apparently built around "(In the) Sweet By and By," but I've always heard it sung to "My Bonnie." - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" (tune) and references there
• cf. "Sweet By and By"

Recordings

• Jules [Verne] Allen, "The Cowboy's Dream" (Victor V-40178, 1929; on AuthCowboys)
• Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink] "The Cowboy's Dream" (Champion 15897 [may also have been issued as by West Virginia Rail Splitter]/Supertone 9571, 1929) (Columbia 15463-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
• Harry Jackson, "Roll On, Little Dogies" (on HJackson1)
• Bradley Kincaid, "The Cowboy's Dream" (Decca 5048, 1934)
• Vernon Dalhart, "The Cowboy's Dream" (Romeo 431. 1927)
• McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band, "Cowboy's Dream" (OKeh 45057, 1926)
• Goebel Reeves, "The Cowboy's Dream" (Melotone 12214/Conqueror 7742, 1931)
• George Riley (The Yodeling Rustler), "The Cowboy's Dream" (Romeo 5037, n.d. but probably c. 1930; Conqueror 7742, 1931)
• Carl T. Sprague, "The Cowboy's Dream" (Victor 20122, 1926; Montgomery Ward M-4343, 1933)
• Westerners [pseud. for Massey Family], "The Cowboy's Dream" (Perfect 13008, 1934)
• Marc Williams, "The Cowboy's Dream" (Brunswick 244, 1928; Supertone S-2054, 1930)

References

1. Randolph 185, "One Night As I Lay on the Prairie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
2. BrownIII 516, "The Great Round-Up" (1 text)
3. Hudson 95, p. 227, "Cowboy Meditations" (1 text)
4. Larkin, pp. 105-108, "The Cowboy's Heaven" (1 text, 1 tune)
5. Thorp/Fife VI, pp. 66-86 (19), "Grand Round-Up" (9 texts, 3 tunes)
6. Fife-Cowboy/West 122, "The Grand Roundup" (2 texts, 1 tune)
7. Lomax-FSUSA 61, "The Cowboy's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
8. Lomax-ABFS, pp. 410-411, "The Cowboy's Dream" (1 text)
9. LPound-ABS, 75, pp. 166-167, "Cowboy Song" (1 text)
10. Darling-NAS, pp. 3309-331, "Roll On, Little Dogies" (1 text)
11. Silber-FSWB, p. 112, "The Cowboy's Dream" (1 text)
12. Saffel-CowboyP, p. 182-183, "The Cowboy's Dream" (1 text)
13. DT, COWDREAM*
14. Roud #4453
15. BI, R185