Ragtime Cowboy Joe (1912)
2-55
(w) Grant Clarke (m) Lewis F. Muir, Maurice Abrahams (I) Bob Roberts (R) 1943 film Hello, Frisco, Hello by Alice Faye (R) 1945 film Incendiary Blonde by Betty Hutton (RR) 1959 The Chipmunks
[Verse] Out in Arizona where the bad men are,
And the only friend to guide you is an evening star,
The roughest, toughest man by far is Ragtime Cowboy Joe.

Got his name from singing to the cows and sheep
Every night they say he sings the herd to sleep
In a basso rich and deep, crooning soft and low.

[Chorus from the sheet music]
He always sings raggy music to the cattle as he swings
Back and forward in the saddle on a horse,
That is syncopated, gaited and there’s such a funny meter
To the roar of his repeater, how they run
When they hear that fellow’s gun
Because the western folks all know
He’s a high-faluting, scooting, shooting’,
Son of a gun from Arizona, Ragtime Cowboy Joe.

[UC Davis Aggie Band version]
He always sings lazy music to his cattle
As he swings back and forward in his saddle
On a horse (pretty good horse!) that is syncopated gaited
And there’s such a funny meter to the roar of his repeater
How they run (how they run!) when he shoots his gun
Because the western folks all know
He’s a high-falutin’, rootin’ tootin’
Son of a gun from California. He’s some cowboy
Talk about your cowboy, Ragtime Cowboy Joe