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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.

First Previous Next Last

ID	Book Title	Index	Pages	Author	Poem Title	First Lines
22237	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	69	Sandia Bill	No Little Blue-Eyed Mary	Not for a king's great kingdom would I try to live alone; I am very fond of children, the brightest jewels of a home.
22238	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	70	Sandia Bill	They Are Happy, Too	I have seen a cow smile While licking her calf, And I have heard a hen sing, And I've heard a horse laugh.
22239	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	70	Sandia Bill	Little Curly Head	Little Curly Head, you have muddy feet, You are dirty, kid, but oh, so sweet. My prety one, The summer sun.
22240	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	71	Sandia Bill	Little Newsboys	I can't forget the little newsboys, Selling papers on the street; Some may seem very proud and happy Without wholesome food to eat.
22241	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	72	Sandia Bill	To Cirah Alice	Lively Cirah Alice, With face and form so fair, I like to see moon beams Dancing gaily in your hair.
22242	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	73	Sandia Bill	Gold In The Rocks	In the best things of life There are lots of alloy. But you can make life a Heaven, Oh, yes, you can, dear boy.
22243	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	74	Sandia Bill	Alfonso And His Dog	Up among the swaying pines On a storm-swept mountain side, Alfonso struggled on and on, Till he finally fell and died.
22244	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	75	Sandia Bill	A Letter To Baby Hazel	I miss you, baby Hazel, As I write these lines tonight, And I would you were here to bother me Till I could not even write.
22245	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	76	Sandia Bill	To A Blue-Eyed Kid	Toodle-doodle-do, pretty little kid, I love you and always did. Once you said you loved me, too, But if you did, you've backslid.
22246	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	76	Sandia Bill	God-Given May	Come on, lively Billy, Come on, pretty May, The flowers are now blooming, It is God-given May.
22247	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	77	Sandia Bill	To Virginia	Little Virginia, my dear little girl friend, I just don't know what to do, 'Cause they say you're goin' away, And there's no one here like you.
22248	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	78	Sandia Bill	To Wanda May	Dear girl friend, Wanda May, I am blue again today. Oh, it makes me feel so silly To see you flirt with Billy.
22249	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	79	Sandia Bill	Over The Hill To A Henhouse	I had a pretty pussy polecat, And she almost made me cry-- Over the hill to a henhouse, She wandered alone to die.
22250	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	79	Sandia Bill	Pretty Marie	My pretty Marie, you were born for me, You were born for me alone. If you will marry me, how glad I'll be-- No more will I want to roam.
22251	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	81	Sandia Bill	This Ole Dark Jail At Santa Fe	I one time loved a black-eyed maiden, And she had said she'd marry me. But she turned traitor; now I suffer In this ole dark jail at Santa Fe.
22252	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	82	Sandia Bill	I Don't Want A Sweetheart	I don't care for the wimin; I don't want a sweetheart. I have already been captured; I've been wedded to art.
22253	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	83	Sandia Bill	Curly, My Buddy	Onct we had a horse race At old Santa Fe, And Curly, my buddy, Was on a big spree.
22254	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	84	Sandia Bill	When Mamma Spanks The Baby	When our mamma calls me bad names, I don't care a thing for that. But when mamma spanks the baby We shore have a big combat.
22255	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	85	Sandia Bill	On The Pecos River's Shore	Little cowgirl in the valley, I wish this hateful war was o'er That I might rest by your fireside On the Pecos River's shore.
22256	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	86	Sandia Bill	When It's Summer In The Rockies	When it's summer in the Rockies And wild flowers are in bloom, I'm goin' hoem to my rancho To see my dear black-eyed June.
22257	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	87	Sandia Bill	Back In My Country Once More	I'm back in my country once more, For two years I've been away-- I've been fightin' for my ole home In the grand ol' U.S.A.
22258	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	88	Sandia Bill	The Nieghbors Call Her "Mother" (For She Really Is a Mother to Them)	There's a store by the road in the country 'Mong the hills where the evergreens grow; In that store by that road there's a woman Who is different from others I know.
22259	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	89	Sandia Bill	When It's Autumn In The Rockies	Dear little girl friend in the canyon, All my hard ramblin' days are through, And when it's autumn in the Rockies, I'll be comin' home to you.
22260	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	90	Sandia Bill	The God's Of War (A Hymn to Peace.)	Ten million little crosses on ten million solemn graves Tell the last sad story of ten million faithful slaves.
22261	Melodious Poems From the Hills	FC 11 B-58	91	Sandia Bill	Kind Love Will Lead Me There (A Hymn.)	To trust in God and Love Divine Sets free the fear-bound soul; It is the way, the one sweet way, To reach that longed-for Goal.