In an article entitled Early Cowboy Songs, Darryl Lyman discusses the way the flourishing cattle market gave rise to real life cowboys between the 1870s and 1890s.
These cowboys had faced early hardships as Confederate Civil War soldiers, sailors, and lumberjacks, and were familiar with the songs they had discovered during these experiences.
These cowboys also knew traditional melodies derived from an English or Irish descent. These melodies could be used as a background soundtrack for the harsh realities about which cowboys were most likely to sing.
Not surprisingly, the cowboys sang of riding horses and facing dangers as they rode the lonely miles of the cattle drives.
Singing Cowboys: Reinvented by Technology?
Even though the cowboys of the 1800s saw themselves as survivors in doing the difficult task at hand, Hollywood-with the arrival of movies with sound-could portray the era as a romantic one indeed.
The sufferings of the original cowboys could be made to resemble a life of carefree adventure as the singing cowboy of the early movies sat around the campfire and sang of their love of country and nature.
Audiences were given many chances to envy them, especially by the 1930s when the “talkies” became internationally successful.
Singing Cowboys: An American Hero?
When we consider the image of America that Hollywood was trying to offer the world at the time, it is little wonder that the most famous singing cowboys typically wore white hats and projected a wholesome image.
Entertainers of this period who were felt to live up to this standard therefore became associated with the idea of an American hero.
Singing Cowboys: The Most Famous?
1. John Wayne. In the movie Riders of Destiny (1933), “Singin’ Sandy Saunders” sang ominously about showdowns. Unusually for him, John Wayne wore a black hat in this role. He is considered the very first singing cowboy of films, although his real voice wasn’t used.
2. Gene Autry. Taking over when John Wayne didn’t want to be embarrassed further, Gene Autry is seen to epitomize the idea of a “singing cowboy.” In fact, he became so associated with the role that he could use his own name as the movie’s character.
3. Roy Rogers. In 1937, as a result of a contract dispute, Gene Autry soon found himself in competition with the talents of Roy Rogers, with whom he’d been replaced by the movie studio. Roy Rogers was also famous enough to use his own name, and became known as “King of the Cowboys.”
4. Tex Ritter. With the success of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, working for Republic Studios, Grand National Pictures also decided to create a singing cowboy. Tex Ritter thus began a long career, beginning in 1936.
These entertainers brought to the screen a more fictionalized account of the cowboys of the 1800s.
And yet, perhaps the success of these famous singing cowboys can be attributed to the idea that they really did admire the original cowboys as they drove their cattle and painted an early portrait of American life.
Their admiration was shown in the sincerity of their singing.
Citation: “Early Cowboy Songs” by Darryl Lyman.
www.associatedcontent.com/article/338796/early_cowboy_songs.html
Singing Cowboy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_cowboy
