The Strawberry Roan (song)

A miniature strawberry roan

"The Strawberry Roan" is a classic American cowboy song, written by California cowboy Curley Fletcher (1892–1954), and first published in 1915, as a poem called The Outlaw Broncho. By the early 1930s, the song had become famous; in 1931 it was sung by a cowboy in the Broadway play Green Grow the Lilacs. It has become one of the best-known cowboy songs, being found in dozens of collections of American folk music and performed on numerous recordings.[1] Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[2]

The song tells the story of a bragging horse breaker who meets his match in a picturesque strawberry roan. When he agrees with its owner to break the horse, he says "I'm your man, a bronc never lived that I couldn't fan." After a wild ride in which he is thrown to the ground, he says "I'll bet all my money, the man ain't alive that can stay with Old Strawberry when he makes his high dive."[1][3]

References

  1. 1 2 White, John I. (1969). "The Strange Career of "The Strawberry Roan"". Arizona and the West. 11 (4): 359–366. JSTOR 40167567.
  2. ↑ Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "Strawberry Roan - The Story Behind the Song". CountryMusicTreasures.com. The Music Barn Ltd. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
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