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I Ride an Old Paint
by Unknown
collected by Carl Sandburg
performed by various
chorus:
Ride around, little dogies
Ride around them slow
For the fiery and snuffy are a-rarin’ to go
verses:
I ride an old paint
I lead an old Dan
I’m goin’ to Montan’
For to throw the hoolihan
They feed in the coulees
They water in the draw
Their tails are all matted
Their backs are all raw
Old Bill Jones
Had two daughters and a song
One went to Denver
And the other went wrong
His wife she died
In a poolroom fight
Still he sings
From morning till night
O when I die
Take my saddle from the wall
Put it on my pony
Lead him out of his stall
Tie my bones to his back
Turn our faces to the west
And we’ll ride the prairies
That we love the best
I spent my earliest years on a ranch, singing cowboy songs in elementary school, in my music class, and I suspect my teacher was inspired by the local cowboy, rancher, and rodeo culture in her song selections. She was (is) a Wichita also, so I also have in my brain a lot of Tribal music, too, for which I feel very blessed, like a link in a chain of memory stretching back to an unknown origin.
This particular cowboy song was made popular after it was recorded and released by Woody Guthrie. Its origin is uncertain, however, like a lot of other old trail songs, it was collected in the early 20th century in an effort to save it from being forgotten. (via wiki)
I Ride an Old Paint is a traditional American cowboy song, collected and published in 1927 by Carl Sandburg in his American Songbag.
Traveling the American Southwest, Sandburg found the song through western poets Margaret Larkin and Linn Riggs. He wrote that the song came to them in Santa Fe from a cowboy who was last heard of as heading for the Mexican border with friends. He described the song as one of a man in harmony with the values of the American West: “There is rich poetry in the image of the rider so loving a horse he begs when he dies his bones shall be tied to his horse and the two of them sent wandering with their faces turned west.”
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. The song is interpolated in Aaron Copland‘s ballet Rodeo, in William Grant Still‘s Miniatures and in Virgil Thomson‘s film score for The Plow that Broke the Plains.
There is disagreement among experts about the meanings of some terms in the song, namely: “snuffy”, “fiery”, “Dan”, and “hoolihan”. If the word is dam as in Linda Ronstadt’s version it is a mother horse. The hoolihan is a backhand loop thrown with a lariat, typically thrown to catch horses. Notable recordings of “I Ride an Old Paint” are by the Weavers and Linda Ronstadt. Loudon Wainwright III has a particularly plaintive version he titled simply “Old Paint” on his 1971 Album II (Loudon Wainwright III album). Johnny Cash recorded a version on his 1965 album Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West. Cowboy Nation [Chip Kinman & Tony Kinman] recorded their arrangement of “Old Paint” on the self-titled album Cowboy Nation in 1996. Canadian singer Colter Wall recorded a version on his 2020 album Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs.
It is believed that the chorus represents the night-watches done by cattlement to protect their herds. via balladofamerica.org
Cowboys faced many dangers on the trail including lightning, crossing of swift-flowing rivers, and hostile Native Americans. The greatest danger of all was the stampede. When the cattle were lying peacefully on the ground at night, some stray sound, flash of lightning, or instinct would bring them all to their feet and send them charging into the darkness. Static electricity from the hairy bodies rubbing together caused bluish sparks to be emitted from their horns. Many cowboys’ lives were lost in attempts to get the herds back in control by riding to the front and heading them off into a wide, but ever-narrowing circle.
To discourage stampedes, not to mention cattle rustlers and Native American attacks, each man would serve two-hour shifts of night duty. Two at a time, all night long the cowboys would ride slowly in opposite directions in a giant circle around the sleeping herd. They would usually sing or whistle continuously to pass the time, to keep themselves awake, to drown out the noises of the night, and so the cattle would know that a friend was watching over them. “Old Paint,” aka “I Ride an Old Paint,” and “Streets of Laredo” are among the many songs that were sung to sleeping cattle. A paint is a spotted horse and the rider/narrator in this song is most likely on his way to a Montana rodeo to wrestle steers. The word “dogie” refers to cattle taken from their mothers and, forced to eat grass too early, develop big doughy stomachs.
There are several great versions of this song. I have embedded some of my favorites below:
