Home On The Range

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Home on the Range

by Brewster M. Higley

“Oh, Give Me a Home on The Range” Poem by Dr. Brewster Higley Smith County Pioneer, 1873 / 1914 Levi Moris / W. H. Nelson, Editors (No copies of the 1873 article exist; only the 1914 reprint remains.)	“Western Home” Poem by Dr Higley The Kirwin Chief, 1874 / 1876 W. D. Jenkins, Editor (No copies of the 1874 article exist; only the 1876 reprint remains.)	“A Home on the Range” Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads John A. Lomax, ed., 1910 (Lyrics as printed, pp. 39–40. Sheet music, pp. 41–43, includes first verse and “refrain”.
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and antelope play, Where never is heard a discouraging word And the sky is not clouded all day. Chorus— A home, a home where the deer and the antelope play, Where never is heard a discouraging word And the sky is not clouded all day. Oh, give me the gale of the Solomon vale, Where light streams with buoyancy flow, On the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever, Any poisonous herbage doth grow. Chorus— Oh, give me the land where the bright diamond sand Throws light from its glittering stream, Where glideth along the graceful white swan Like a maid in her heavenly dream Chorus— I love these wild flowers in this bright land of ours, I love, too, the curlew’s wild scream, The bluffs of white rocks and antelope flocks That graze on our hillsides so green. Chorus— How often at night, when the heavens are bright By the light of the glittering stars, Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed If their beauty exceeds this of ours. Chorus— The air is so pure the breezes so light, The zephyrs so balmy at night, I would not exchange my home here to range Forever in azure so bright. Chorus—	Oh! give me a home where the Buffalo roam, Where the Deer and the Antelope play; Where never is heard a discouraging word, And the sky is not clouded all day. [Chorus] A home! A home! Where the Deer and the Antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And the sky is not clouded all day Oh! give me land where the bright diamond sand. Throws its light from the glittering streams, Where glideth along the graceful white swan, Like the maid in her heavenly dreams. [Chorus] A home! A home! Oh! give me a gale of the Solomon vale, Where the life streams with buoyancy flow; Or the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever, Any poisonous herbage doth grow. [Chorus] A home! A home! How often at night, when the heavens were bright, With the light of the twinkling stars, Have I stood here amazed, and asked as I gazed, If their glory exceed that of ours. [Chorus] A home! A home! I love the wild flowers in this bright land of ours, I love the wild curlew’s shrill scream; The bluffs and white rocks, and antelope flocks, That graze on the mountains so green. [Chorus] A home! A home! The air is so pure and the breezes so free, The zephyrs so balmy and light, That I would not exchange my home here to range, Forever in azures so bright. [Chorus] A home! A home!	Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day. Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play; Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day. Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free, The breezes so balmy and light, That I would not exchange my home on the range For all of the cities so bright. The red man was pressed from this part of the West, He’s likely no more to return To the banks of Red River where seldom if ever Their flickering camp-fires burn. How often at night when the heavens are bright With the light from the glittering stars, Have I stood here amazed and asked as I gazed If their glory exceeds that of ours. Oh, I love these wild flowers in this dear land of ours, The curlew I love to hear scream, And I love the white rocks and the antelope flocks That graze on the mountain-tops green. Oh, give me a land where the bright diamond sand Flows leisurely down the stream; Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along Like a maid in a heavenly dream. Then I would not exchange my home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play; Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day. Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play; Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day.

The song is still well-known today, the official state song of Kansas, and the Lomax version above still sung by elementary school aged children all across the U.S. Home on the Range is a cowboy trail song. The authorship of it is now known, but the process of finding out the authorship included legal disputes and multiple claims of plagiarism during the early part of the 20th Century. From wiki:

In 1871, Higley moved from Indiana and acquired land in Smith County, Kansas under the Homestead Act, living in a small cabin near West Beaver Creek. Higley was inspired by his surroundings and wrote “My Western Home”, which was published in the Smith County Pioneer (KS) newspaper in 1873 or 1874 and republished March 21, 1874 in The Kirwin Chief.  Higley’s cabin home is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Home on the Range Cabin.

Daniel E. Kelley (1808–1905), a friend of Higley and member of the Harlan Brothers Orchestra, developed a melody for the song on his guitar. Higley’s original lyrics are similar to those of the modern version of the song, but not identical. For instance, the original poem did not contain the words “on the range”. Ranchers, cowboys, and other western settlers adopted the song as a rural anthem and it spread throughout the United States in various forms. In 1925, Texas composer David W. Guion (1892–1981) arranged it as sheet music that was published by G. Schirmer. The song has since gone by a number of names, the most common being “Home on the Range” and “Western Home”. It was officially adopted as the state song of Kansas on June 30, 1947 and is commonly regarded as the unofficial anthem of the American West.

On September 27, 1933, Bing Crosby recorded “Home on the Range” with Lennie Hayton and his orchestra for Brunswick Records. At the time, the origins of “Home on the Range” were obscure and widely debated, although it had been published in 1910 in folklorist John Lomax‘s Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. Lomax reported that he had learned the song from a black saloon keeper in Texas who recalled learning it on the Chisholm Trail. Its popularity led to William and Mary Goodwin filing a suit for copyright infringement in 1934 for $500,000. In 1905 the couple had published “An Arizona Home”, similar to “Home on the Range”. The lawsuit initiated a search for the song’s background.

As it turned out, controversy and even outright plagiarism have followed the song’s lyrics since their publication. On Feb. 26, 1876, the Kirwin Chief published an article on the front page titled, “PLAGIARISM,” accusing The Stockton News of publishing a nearly identical poem credited to a Mrs. Emma Race of Raceburgh, KS. The Kirwin Chief, which had published the poem Mar. 26, 1874, reprinted the poem below the article. When Samuel Moanfeldt investigated the history of “Home on the Range” on behalf of the Music Publishers Protection Association in response to the Goodwins’ 1934 lawsuit, he found another, similar song, “Colorado Home”. However, within a few months, Moanfeldt determined Higley had written the poem behind “Home on the Range”, and set to music by Kelley. It seemed likely that cowboys on the Chisholm Trail played a role in making the song known throughout several states.

One interesting fact about Smith County, Kansas, where Higley’s poem was penned, is that it is the geographic center of the forty-eight contiguous United States, with the precise center near the city of Lebanon. The geographic center of North America lies in neighboring Osborne County, just to the south.

On a personal note, it was once one of my truest desires to see the Big 12 Conference (a collegiate athletics conference in the U.S.) to lean in on its geographic territory for marketing and branding purposes, and to use this song to that end. In its original form, the Big 12 included schools in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, and Iowa. As a Great Plains native, I yearn to see my homeland treated as a geographically distinctive territory, with its own name and history, rather than seeing it lumped in with the more populous surrounding regions where we don’t really fit – like some kind of ugly sewn on appendage. There has been an extended propaganda campaign against the middle of the U.S., to erase its distinctive self-identity, and the campaign has been so successful that even most Kansas and Nebraska natives today – the good folks from in and around Smith County – would describe themselves as living in the Midwest, rather than the more accurate description their grandparents would have given. Okies have no idea where they are from and if you ask, you’ll get a bunch of differing answers. Texas has a similar problem but with different answers than Oklahoma.

But there was once an opportunity to brand our part of the country as a distinctive entity, worthy of its own name. Texas is not the Great Plains. The Great Plains are not the South, or the Southwest, as Texas might be described. Neither are quite large enough, or populous enough, to be their own region in a true sense. But… all of them could rightly call themselves “The Range.” That was a flag we could have rallied under, using the umbrella branding of college football to make it happen. Just imagine in your mind’s eye a Kansas State Wildcat linebacker tackling a Colorado Buffalo, with an old timey version of this song playing in the background, while some gravel-voiced old guy talked about athletics in the background. They could have added in the little record player audio pops while playing the song. But alas, it was never meant to be. The Big 12 lost members, added members, and changed its geography. That particular opportunity is gone.

Anyway… for your listening enjoyment, I have embedded the Bing Crosby recording of this song (mentioned above) in the video below: