Ragtime Cowboy Joe

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1912 sheet music cover

It has been performed by a diverse group of artists, ranging from Bob Roberts in 1912^[2] to The Tune Wranglers, the big band sound of Eddy Howard in 1947 to the comedic recording by The Chipmunks in 1959.

Origin

The 1912 copyright version published by F.A. Mills credits Lewis F. Muir and Maurice Abrahams as composers and Grant Clarke as the lyricist. The song writing team also wrote Second Hand Rose. The song was composed in Brooklyn, New York after an appearance at Maurice Abrahams' home by his nephew, Joe Abrahams, wearing a cowboy outfit. Maurice Abrahams was so captivated by the appearance of his nephew dressed up as a cowboy that he was inspired to write Ragtime Cowboy Joe in 1912. It was a number-one hit song for singer Bob Roberts in 1912.

Lyrics

As with many popular songs of the era, the verse is often omitted: the refrain's lyrics vary somewhat depending on the performer.

(verse)

Out in Arizona

Where the bad men are,

And the only friend to guide you

Is an evening star,

The roughest and the toughest

Man by far

Is Ragtime Cowboy Joe.

He got his name from singin'

To the cows and sheep

They say that every night

He sings the herd to sleep

In a basso voice

So rich and deep,

A-croonin' soft and low.

(refrain)

He always sings

Raggy music to the cattle

As he swings

Back and forward in the saddle

On a horse

That's a syncopated gaiter

There's-a such a funny meter

To the roar of his repeater.

How they run

When they hear his gun

Because the Western folks all know

He's a high-falutin', rootin', shootin',

Son of a gun from Arizona,

Ragtime Cowboy Joe.

(verse)

Dressed up ev'ry Sunday

In his Sunday clothes

He beats it to the village

Where he always goes

And ev'ry single gal

In town is Joe's

'Cause he's a ragtime bear.

When he starts a-spieling

On the dance hall floor

No one but a lunatic

Would start a war

Because the wise men know

His forty-four

Would make them dance for fair.^[1]

Variations include: "How he sings", "Ragtime music", "That's syncopated gaited/And you ought to hear the meter", "scootin' shootin'" or "rootin' tootin'"<Bob Robert's version>, "Son of a gun from old Wyoming", or additions of "(A pretty good horse)", "He's some cowboy", and/or "Talk about your cowboy".

On radio

"Ragtime Cowboy Joe" was the radio show theme song for New York City's long running, award-winning public radio show, Cowboy Joe's Radio Ranch (1976–1988), hosted by Paul Aaron, New York's Cowboy Joe. During one of his radio shows Paul Aaron had the elder Joe Abrahams (the original Cowboy Joe) as a special guest. Paul Aaron played many versions of his favorite song dating back to one sung by Bob Roberts from a 1919 acoustic RCA Victor 78 rpm record. He also played many "live" versions recorded during the University of Wyoming football and basketball games. A recent version of the song appears on Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks 2009 album "Tangled Tales".

University song

"Ragtime Cowboy Joe" is also the school song of the University of Wyoming. Traditionally, Cowboy fans stand and clap to the beat of the song as played by Wyoming's Western Thunder Marching Band. The version of the song appropriated by Wyoming includes lyrics adjusted to represent the school's location, a stands cheer that occurs during a drum break, and a repeat of the verse commonly follows.

Stands cheer: (For the Cowboys)

'C'! 'O'! 'W'! 'B'! 'O'! 'Y'! 'S'!

COWBOYS! COWBOYS! COWBOYS!

(For the Cowgirls)

'C'! 'O'! 'W'! 'G'! 'I'! 'R'!, 'L'!, 'S'!

COWGIRLS! COWGIRLS! COWGIRLS!

The Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! at UC Davis also favors the song. In this case;

He's a high-falutin', rootin' tootin'

Son of a gun from California

He's some cowboy

Talk about your cowboy

Ragtime Cowboy Joe

The Chipmunks

"Ragtime Cowboy Joe" is the third and final single from The Chipmunks' debut album Let's All Sing with the Chipmunks. The song was released as a single in 1959. After the chart performance of the Chipmunks' last two singles, "The Chipmunk Song" and "Alvin's Harmonica", both of which managed to reach the Top Ten, it was hoped that "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" would continue their streak of Top Ten hits. Instead the single peaked at #16 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart, which was the group's first single to miss the Top Ten, although it was their third consecutive Top 20 single. The song was also a success on the Billboard Black Singles, peaking at #29. Since the song was also credited to David Seville by Billboard, the song became Seville's fourth consecutive Top 20 single. The single also reached number 11 in the UK singles chart, the first and only Chipmunks song to chart in the UK until 1992's 'Achy breaky heart'.

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheet music published by F.A. Mills
↑ Another Book About Popular American Recording Pioneers: 1895-1925: The Unpublished Entries, by Tim Gracyk

v t e Wyoming Cowboys basketball

Venues	Half Acre Gym (1928–1951) War Memorial Fieldhouse (1951–1982) Arena-Auditorium (1982–present)

Culture & lore	History Pistol Pete "Ragtime Cowboy Joe"

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14

Helms and NCAA national championships in bold

v t e Wyoming Cowboys football

Venues	Corbett Field (1925–1949) War Memorial Stadium (1950–present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Colorado State (Bronze Boot) Hawaii (Paniolo Trophy) Utah State

Culture & lore	Pistol Pete "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" Western Thunder Marching Band

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1922 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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