dual personalities

Tag: National Day of the Cowboy

July 21, 2023

Let me wander over yonder/Till I see the mountains rise*

by chuckofish

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the National Day of the Cowboy. Unfortunately we will not be in the Fort Worth Stockyards or Oklahoma City where all sorts of family fun is planned. But that won’t stop us from celebrating! We’ll watch cowboy movies all weekend!

I recently read that the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum acquired the Sam Peckinpah archive, so we will watch Junior Bonner (1972) in his honor. I like this movie and, unlike most of the Peckinpah oeuvre, it is not a showcase of unnecessary violence. Also it stars Steve McQueen.

So here’s to cowboys past and present! Toast freely.

I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences
Don’t fence me in

(*Cole Porter)

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July 21, 2022

Don’t fence me in

by chuckofish

Since Saturday is the National Day of the Cowboy, I will remind you to watch a movie with a cowboy prominently featured. That is a no-brainer. I have made lists before and suggestions ad nauseum, so I will desist from doing so today. Traditionally I watch Red River (1948) which, as cowboy movies go, is A+.

So instead of movies today, I’ll suggest listening to great cowboy songs. Here are a few classics.

Here’s one I’ve loved since I was a little girl. It’s so sad!

Another one I’ve known since childhood–and particularly this version by Burl Ives–is “The Cowboy’s Lament/Streets of Laredo”. It can be heard in myriad movies, most memorably for me in 3 Godfathers (1948) and Bang the Drum Slowly (1973).

Here’s yet another sad one–“Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie”–in a straightforward version by Christian Larsson.

Everyone knows Gene Autry’s “Back in the Saddle Again”…

And here’s our friend David Byrne doing his own version of Cole Porter’s “Don’t Fence Me In.” Classic.

I always loved “Buffalo Gals” when I was kid and here’s Bruce Springsteen’s version.

What’s your favorite cowboy song?

P.S. Who said, “I was not born to be forced. I will breath after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.”

No, it wasn’t John Wayne. It was Henry David Thoreau in Civil Disobedience.

(The painting at the top of this post is by Harold von Schmidt for The Saturday Evening Post)

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