FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection
| Date of Items: | 1890-present | Register Prepared by: | Randy Williams and Susan Gross, April 2004 |
| Register Updated by: | Randy Williams, 23 December 2009 |
| Excel database transfered to MYSQL and uploaded (replacing PHP data): | Colin Jackson, Fall 2010 |
| MYSQL database updated: | Randy Williams, January 2012 |
| Linear Feet: | 20 |
Historical Note & Provenance
Folk Coll 11 is Utah State University's cowboy poetry collection. The collection, originally created by a generation donation by the L. J. and Mary Skaggs Foundation, includes books gathered during a fieldwork project in the early 1980s to document cowboy poetry in the U.S. west (see Folk Coll 11f). From this important fieldwork project came the impetus for the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in January 1985 in Elko, Nevada. Since that time, each January, the Fife Folklore Archives staff take the collection and Access database (that details each book, poem, author, first line and key words), to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering for offsite use. Through University purchases and generation donations from poets and collectors, this collection continues to grow.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of 20 linear feet of books on cowboy poetry, including press and self published works. The collection can be accessed through USU Libraries online catalog.
As well, poem titles and keywords found in each book in the collection are included in the database below. To use, type in the search term. Tip: Try and use an uncommon
word from the poem to ensure less "hits." For instance, if you enter "boots" you will get many hits; but if you enter "bones" you will most liley get fewer "hits" or poems and find the item you seek faster.
To return to the search page, click "home" at the bottom of the page.
Search:
Poetry table.
Next Last| ID | Book Title | Composer | Index | Pages | Author | Poem Title | First Lines | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 33 | Carlos Ashley | Bowie's Bones | Did you come to visit the Mission? Well, stranger, I'll show you around; They've got a museum in there in that room, But they's more things outside they ain't found. | James Bowie, Jim Bowie, Alamo, Lost Bowie Mine, San Saba Mission, Indian mound, skeleton, humor | |
| 2 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 32 | Carlos Ashley | Said the Hoot Owl to the Hen Hawk | Said the Hoot Owl to the Hen Hawk: "Let's you and me agree | That you will work the dayshift | And leave the night to me. | chickens, barnyard | |
| 3 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 31 | Carlos Ashley | The Cedar-Whack | The North wind howls like a timber wolf; As it snaps at the flappin door; On the duckin shack of the cedar-whack; And his kids on the damp dirt floor. | making a living, wood, survival | |
| 4 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 30 | Carlos Ashley | Luck | A lucky boy am I to have; A wife so sweet and comely, While pore old Bill, he's got a wife; Who's mean as hell -- and homely. | married life, marriage, humor | |
| 5 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 27 | Carlos Ashley | Aunt Cordie | You never did know Aunt Cordelia? They's a gap missin outa your life! | religion, drink, heathens, church, heaven and hell, humor, revival, pallbearers | |
| 6 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 26 | Carlos Ashley | For Politicians | We need a little padlock; With a red light and a bell; To hang upon the blabber-mouth; We use for "playin hell." | talk, words, politics | |
| 7 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 25 | Carlos Ashley | South of the Cap Rock | Oh, bury me South of the Cap Rock; Halfway to the Rio Grande, Where the eagles sail; O'er the Spanish Trail; And the tall pecan trees stand. | Texas, plateau, bride, lover, Llano | |
| 8 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 24 | Carlos Ashley | Science--Romance | We studied shells on the beach today; And noted each shape and kind -- The fossils of starfish, suspecting and crabs. | ocean, waves, sand, seashell | |
| 9 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 23 | Carlos Ashley | So-Long | I dream again of the days agone; When I rode these hills with a six-gun on, When I was young and the range was free, And a rawhide saddle was home to me; In the days agone. | passing of an age, aging, death, wolf, wolves | |
| 10 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 22 | Carlos Ashley | Texan's Code | If I berate or cuss your friend -- and whether wrong or right -- Defend him on the instant; If you have to start a fight. | Texas, friendship | |
| 11 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 21 | Carlos Ashley | True Livin | I've had the opportunity; To contrast and compare; A lot of towns and cities; And the folks a-livin' there. | city, friends, land, country | |
| 12 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 19 | Carlos Ashley | Oh, Where Is That River? | Oh, where is that river Pa told me about; When I left for the Pecos this spring? I | Texas, squatter, death, water, desert | |
| 13 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 17 | Carlos Ashley | Ole Edgar Martin | I seen Ole Edgar Martin a-ridin by jus now; He's goin up to Walker's to get that bald-faced cow. | neighbors, meat, Bigg's Meat Market, feeble-minded, help | |
| 14 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 9 | Carlos Ashley | That Spotted Sow or The Ballad of Cedar Mountain | Did you ever hear the story; Of that famous hog of mine? | hog, pig, Ole Spot, Sandy Creek | |
| 15 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 14 | Carlos Ashley | The Widder | It gits kinda lonesome out on the divide; With never a woman around, So about twice a year I saddle Ole Bell; And ride down the canyon to town. | women, marriage, proposal, widow, home cooking, pastor, preacher, bachelor | |
| 16 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 35 | Carlos Ashley | The King of the County Fair | A chestnut foal on tremblin legs; Is nudgin his mother's thigh, While Old Trav lolls in the stable shade; And stares with a dreamy eye. | June Bug, race tracks, horses, Texas, race horse, champion, racing | |
| 17 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 37 | Carlos Ashley | The Substitute | Oh, the honor and the glory; That the football heroes get; Is well deserved -- they battle hard. | athlete | |
| 18 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 38 | Carlos Ashley | Duty | If our home town needs improving, As they all most surely do, Well, that's you and you and you and me -- We need improving, too. | neighbors, friends, civic duty, pride | |
| 19 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 39 | Carlos Ashley | A Sermon | I've done a lot of thinkin; On the vanity and sin; Of the things folks deem important; In this world we're living in. | religion, Christianity, education, humility, values, honesty | |
| 20 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 41 | Carlos Ashley | Old Blue | I dreamt I was a kid again --The world was bright and new; Beside me lay my target-gun; And my faithful hound -- Old Blue. | dog, hound, coon, hunting | |
| 21 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 43 | Carlos Ashley | Values | Oh, the glamour and the clamor; That attend affairs of state; Seem to fascinate the rabble; And impress some folks as "great." | politics | |
| 22 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 44 | Carlos Ashley | Blacksnake Bill | When the shadows of the evenin softly stroll across the hills, And the fever of the busy day is done; When the flamin fires of sunset quietly smolder into night, And the stars report for duty, one by one. | memories, childhood, Texas, Llano, San Saba, Cherokee, wagon, freighter, freight | |
| 23 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 47 | Carlos Ashley | The Big Convention | There are many wholesome pleasures; That delight the human soul -- For simple beauties in this world abound. | singing bee, dinner, song, food, mixed quartette, mixed quartet, chorus, When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder I'll Be There, convention | |
| 24 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 49 | Carlos Ashley | Service | If the road is rough and rocky as this life we journey through, Then we ought to take a little time to move a rock or two. | friendship | |
| 25 | That Spotted Sow & Other Hill Country Ballads | FC 11 A-03 | 49 | Carlos Ashley | I Built My House Upon a Hill | I built my house upon a hill; That I might search horizons far; To find my vagrant spirit lost; Upon some dim, unchristened star. | god, closeness to god |