Goodbye Old Paint

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Goodbye Old Paint

by Charley Willis

Cheyenne, Cheyenne, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Cheyenne, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne

My foot’s in the stirrup, my rein in my hand
Goodbye, old Paint, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne
I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne, I’m off to Montan’
Goodbye, old Paint, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne

Cheyenne, Cheyenne, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Cheyenne, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne

My horses ain’t hungry, they won’t eat your hay
Goodbye, old Paint, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne
My wagon is loaded and rollin’ on its way
Goodbye, old Paint, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne

Cheyenne, Cheyenne, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Cheyenne, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne

We’ll ride all day ’till the sun has gone down
Goodbye, old Paint, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne
I’m gonna be glad to get out of this town
Goodbye, old Paint, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne

Cheyenne, Cheyenne, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Cheyenne, I’m a-leavin’ Cheyenne
________________________

Like a lot of old cowboy songs, composed on trail rides, the authorship – and thus the official lyrics – of this song are somewhat in question, with various people having been credited with its authorship, and different versions of the song having been produced, over time. However, historians are now in general agreement that Charley Willis, a Texas cowboy, trail rider, born a slave and freed at the end of the Civil War, is the author of this famous cowboy song. From Wiki:

“Goodbye Old Paint” is a traditional Western song that was created by black cowboy, Charley Willis. The song was first collected by songwriter, N. Howard “Jack” Thorp in his 1921 book Songs of the Cowboys. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

In writing about “Goodbye Old Paint”, Thorp wrote: “Heard this sung by a puncher who had been on a spree in Pecos City. He had taken a job temporarily as a sheep-rustler for an outfit in Independence Draw, down the river, and was ashamed of the job. I won’t mention his name.” Charley Willis, a former slave who became a cowboy and rode the Wyoming trail in the late 1800s, is now credited with authorship. Willis was in demand on cattle drives because his voice was reportedly calming to the herds.

Though folklorist John Lomax did credit Willis with the authorship of the song, Lomax never recorded a performance of the song by any black person. In spite of the somewhat-concealed history of the song, many people have been credited with writing it. In 1928, a newspaper in Amarillo, Texas reported that Texas cowboy fiddler Jess Morris had composed it. Apparently Morris’ arrangement had previously caught Thorp’s eye. Morris never claimed to have written the song, saying that he learned it from a black cowboy named Charley Willis. Western writer and singer Jim Bob Tinsley has said that credit for saving “Goodbye Old Paint” from being forever lost “…belongs to three Texans: a black cowboy (Willis) who sang it on cattle drives, a cowboy who remembered it (Jess Morris) and a college professor (Lomax) who put it down on paper.”

Texoso66.com (a blog about Texas) has more information about Charley Willis, HERE: I’ll include an excerpt below.

The song, “Goodbye Old Paint” was written by Texas cowboy Charley Willis who was born a slave around 1847 in Milam County, Texas.  He became a free man after the Civil War and started working as a cowboy in Bell County, Texas.  He was good at everything, including breaking wild horses.  He also married his wife Laura, who is thought to be part Seminole and descended from the Black Seminole tribe that migrated to Texas from Mexico.

Charley was still a young man when he participated in his first trail drive in 1871 up the old Chisholm Trail from Texas to Wyoming.  Willis became known for singing to quiet the easily spooked herds while on the trail.  Cattle responded to church hymns and other songs, sometimes composed on the trail by the cowboys and in addition, singing helped the cowboys to pass the time during long hours in the saddle.

After one trip, Charley came home singing “Goodbye Old Paint,” though no one knows if Old Paint referred to his horse or just a name he selected for convenience.  In his article in the book Black Cowboys of Texas, author Jim Chilcote says the song was documented by a college professor named John Lomax (John Avery Lomax, Sr.) recording a cowboy named Jess Morris (the son of  the ranch owner, E. J. Morris for whom Willis worked) accompanying himself on the fiddle and singing the tune for the Library of Congress. 

I’ve imbedded a recording of the song below:

There is a rich history of black cowboys in the American Old West that is no longer widely known or remembered. Thousands of slaves were used as cowboys prior to the Civil War and thousands more worked as cowboys in the decades after Emancipation. Many of these men and women became famous in their own time (Nat Love, Bill Pickett, Mary “Stagecoach Mary” Fields, Bose Ikard, John “The Texas Kid” Hayes, etc.) I hope that if the U.S. experiences a renewed interest in the Old West, thanks to the TV series Yellowstone, that some of these stories can finally be relayed to audiences.