I'm an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande
"I'm an Old Cow Hand (from the Rio Grande)" is a comic song written by Johnny Mercer for the film Rhythm on the Range and sung by its star, Bing Crosby. The Crosby recording with Jimmy Dorsey & his Orchestra was a hit in 1936, and greatly furthered Mercer's career. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[1]
It has also been sung by Roy Rogers (Sons of the Pioneers), Johnnie Ray, Jack Teagarden, Patsy Montana, Frank Sinatra, Dan Hicks, and Harry Connick Jr., among others. A notable jazz version by Sonny Rollins leads off his 1957 album Way Out West. Instrumental versions were done by Ray Conniff on his album s Wonderful (1956) and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass on their album The Brass are Comin.
In TV and film, Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance sang it in an episode of I Love Lucy, and Robert Picardo performs a verse in Innerspace. The Sons of the Pioneers version is heard in Men In Black 3.
The lyrics, about a 20th-century cowboy who has little in common with cowpunchers of old, have been included in some anthologies of light verse.
References
- ↑ Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
- Who Wrote that Song by Dick Jacobs & Harriet Jacobs, published by Writer's Digest Books 1993 (2nd Edition)