Where Have All the Cowboys Gone

"Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" is the name of a song by Paula Cole. It is featured in her album This Fire. The song is Cole's (as yet) only U.S. Top Ten hit on Billboard's Hot 100, reaching number 8. It is also Cole's only UK Top-40 hit to date, reaching number 15 on 22 June 1997.

1 Song information
2 Music video
3 Charts
4 Parodies
5 Audio sample

[edit] Song information

The song is about a woman who for all her life dreamed of being a cowboy's wife, having a man to protect her and share the adventurous life with her. One day she does indeed marry one of these "cowboys". But over the years she discovers her dream man doesn't live up to her expectations, and finds herself an unhappy housewife, asking to the heavens where all the cowboys went.

The song received three Grammy nominations for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (losing to Sarah McLachlan's Building a Mystery); Record of the Year and Song of the Year, losing both to "Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin.

Throughout 1997, Cole was known for her routine performance of the song in which she would wear the same mask during the spoken verses and jumped up and down while playing a tambourine.

[edit] Music video

The video is simple, featuring Paula's band performing behind her as she sings and prances around. She is also seen sitting on a couch, and shadows of other people are shown. There are several points where the video looks grainy, adding to the effect of the song. It was nominated for Best Female Video at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, losing to Jewel's "You Were Meant for Me".

[edit] Charts

Chart (1997)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	8
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	10
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	32
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	27

[edit] Parodies

In 2006, Paul Shanklin recorded a version for The Rush Limbaugh Show called "Where Have All the Conservatives Gone," blaming the Democratic Party's gains in the United States 2006 midterm elections on a lack of conservatism on the part of elected Republicans.[1]

In 2008, on the eve of the NBA Finals, sports songwriter Ryan Parker did a parody entitled "Where Have All The White Boys Gone?", referring to how the Boston Celtics, who were playing in that year's Finals, had a significantly larger number of African-American players when compared to their successful 1980s squads.