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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
IDBook TitleComposerIndexPagesAuthorPoem TitleFirst LinesKeywords
23563 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 30 Georgie Connell Sicking R.C.Q. There are so darned many initials, That came out since the war. It keeps a feller figurin' what they mean. As there is always some that he ain't heard before.
23564 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 32 Georgie Connell Sicking I Guess It Is Religion There is bound to be somebody, somewhere, That watches over people like me. If there wasn't somebody somewhere, I think in a cold grave I'd be.
23565 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 33 Georgie Connell Sicking A Few Cowboy Rules Be patient with a green colt, Be kind to a child. If you're handlin' thin cattle, Don't try to get wild.
23566 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 35 Georgie Connell Sicking Old Bay Today I found a picture, that I had put away, Of a quarterhorse with a strip in his face, that I called Old Bay.
23567 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 38 Georgie Connell Sicking Remember When the north wind blows high on the mountain, and an old cow bawls down below, Think of me sometimes, old pardner, as a friend you used to know.
23568 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 41 Georgie Connell Sicking The Barrel Racer You've been all day round the rodeo, with your heart beating steady, When the announcer yells out, "Barrel Racers get ready!"
23569 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 43 Georgie Connell Sicking Schurz Out in old Nevada, where the Walker River flows, From out of the high Sierras, feeding from its snows.
23570 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 46 Georgie Connell Sicking Jake Catch your horse and get him saddled, Hours before the dawn. Many miles to ride before sundown, The spring roundup is on.
23571 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 49 Georgie Connell Sicking The Lonesome Ones God, please help the lonesome ones, who walk upon your earth, They travel near, they travel far, not knowing their real worth.
23572 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 50 Georgie Connell Sicking Loco And Liquor I've seen drought, depression, and fire-swept rangeland, in this life of mine, But the worst I ever did see, is horses crazed by loco, or cowboys drunk on wine.
23573 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 52 Georgie Connell Sicking Gamblin' Been thinkin' 'bout Nevada, with her sky so big and blue, The people that live here, and the gamblin' that they do.
23574 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 54 Georgie Connell Sicking Going Back Crags and rocks and rattlesnakes, And hotly blazing sun, Mesquite, catclaw and cactus, Cattle on the run.
23575 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 56 Georgie Connell Sicking A Time For Remembering The wind howls round my cabin tonight, gosh, but its gettn' cold, A storm comin' in on the wings of the wind, joints say I'm getting' old.
23576 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 57 Georgie Connell Sicking Nevada Some folks think of Nevada. As all gamblin' halls and lights, As a crazy kind of livin', Of sleepin' days and livin' nights.
23577 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 59 Georgie Connell Sicking On That Other Range This old cowboy like many others, He just had to go, To that other range up yonder, While we stay here below.
23578 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 61 Georgie Connell Sicking Mahone Camp Did you ever stay in a cow camp, When the snow was fallin' down, Pilin' up on snowbanks, That have covered all the ground?
23579 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 62 Georgie Connell Sicking October 1945 There is another good cowboy gone, From the O.R.O. range. I guess it was just his tim eto go, So he made the change.
23580 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 63 Georgie Connell Sicking Nevada's Subtle Beauty Did you ever see a dust train, just weavin' and a'windin' Made by a car or pickup, goin' across an open valley, To a ranch or mine location, many miles from town?
23581 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 65 Georgie Connell Sicking Be Yourself When I was young and foolish, The woman said to me, "Take off those spurs and comb your hair, If a lady you will be."
23582 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 67 Georgie Connell Sicking Country Rewards You ask me why I love this way of life, Never thought much about it. I think that if I moved to town, I would sure die without it.
23583 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 68 Georgie Connell Sicking Blood Sweat And Tears Blood, sweat and tears, Some folks just don't understand, Just what it takes sometimes, To become owners of this land.
23584 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 70 Georgie Connell Sicking Believe It Stranged you have asked me, What inspires a cowboy poem. It could be a way of preserving, Memories of a well loved home.
23585 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 71 Georgie Connell Sicking Back Roads There is a place in Arizona, Stays forever in my mind, Beneath lofty Mahon Mountain where, A pack trail weaves and winds.
23586 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 73 Georgie Connell Sicking The Spirit Of Christmas We were two kids in a cow camp, Christmas drawin near. Not much food, no moeny to spend, The way ahead was drear.
23587 Just More Thinking FC 11 S-69 74 Georgie Connell Sicking Qui-Ui Last week we heard from Washington D.C., And it seems their latest wish, Is to dry up our fields and pastures, To protect the Qui-Ui fish.