Introduction to the Cowboy Through Song

Memoir and Myth in Cowboy Ballads

A lesson by:Mr. Zack Siegel, A.A., B.A. and Mr. Jerad Koepp, B.A.

Lesson Goals:

• You will be able to classify a cowboy.• You will be able to understand

diversity in cowboy culture.• You will analyze the role of music in

cultural transmission.

• You will get to have fun!

You will need:

• Pen or Pencil• Notebook paper• Your singing voice!

What is a Cowboy?

• Take a minute and think to yourself.• On a piece of paper create a picture

of what you think a cowboy looks like.

• In a sentence or two explain your picture in words.

• Take 5 minutes and share with the person to your right.

Cowboy Concepts

• What are some of the things you and your partner’s picture had in common?

• What are some of the ways in which they differed?

• If you differed with your partner, why do you think you did?

Did your picture look like this?

Or Did it Look Like this?

Did Anyone Draw This?

Core Question

•Where did your idea of cowboy come from?

Cowboy Myths and Truths

1. The cowboy life was glamorous

2. Women could not be cowboys.

3. The word cowboy was invented in Texas.

4. Many Texas cowboys were Mexican or African-American.

5. Cowboys often had to fight off Native Americans.

A cowboy would ride his favorite horse all day.

• Myth: Cowboys would ride a string of horses depending on what task was at hand.

The Word Cowboy was invented in Texas

• Myth: Actually, the job of a ‘cowboy’ came form the Spanish word ‘vaquero.’ Many cowboy words and practices come from the Spanish language and Mexican culture.

Women could not be Cowboys

• Myth: Several women owned ranches and ran their own cattle drives, including Amanda Burks and Lizzie Johnson

Many Texas cowboys were Mexican or African American

• Truth: During the Cowboy Era (1866-1886) 1/6th of the cowboys were Mexican and many others were African American or Native American.

Cowboys often had to fight off Native Americans

• Myth: Cowboys rarely if ever fought Native Americans.

Cowboy Ballads

Cowboy ballads were a medium to reflect cowboy life on the frontier.

Cowboy Lingo• Cowboy Lingo • Airin' the lungs: cussin' • Biscuit shooter: the ranch

cook • Colorado mockingbird: a

burro • Dally: a half-hitch of rope

around a saddle horn used when roping

• Dog house: the bunkhouse • Flea trap: a cowboy's bedroll• Greasy belly: a cook • Gut hooks: spurs • Hay shaker: a farmer

• Hot rock: a biscuit  • Idaho brain storm: a tornado • Kack: a saddle • Kack biscuit: a saddle sore • Latigo: a leather strap used to

fasten a saddle on a horse • Maniac den: a sheep wagon

or camp • Maverick: an unbranded

animal • Necktie social: a hanging • Tasting gravel: thrown from a

horse • Walking whisky vat: a

drunkard

Streets of Laredo• As I walked out on the streets of Laredo.• As I walked out on Laredo one day,• I spied a poor cowboy wrapped in white linen,• Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay.• "I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy."• These words he did say as I boldly walked by.• "Come an' sit down beside me an' hear my sad story.• "I'm shot in the breast an' I know I must die."• "It was once in the saddle, I used to go dashing.• "Once in the saddle, I used to go gay.• "First to the card-house and then down to Rose's.• "But I'm shot in the breast and I'm dying today."• "Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin.• "Six dance-hall maidens to bear up my pall.• "Throw bunches of roses all over my coffin.• "Roses to deaden the clods as they fall."• "Then beat the drum slowly, play the fife lowly.• "Play the death march as you carry me along.• "Take me to the green valley, lay the sod o'er me,• "I am a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong."• "Then go write a letter to my grey-haired mother,• "And tell her the cowboy that she loved has gone.• "But please not one word of the man who had killed me.• "Don't mention his name and his name will pass on."• When thus he had spoken, the hot sun was setting.• The streets of Laredo grew cold as the clay.• We took the young cowboy down to the green valley,• And there stands his marker, we made, to this day.• We beat the drum slowly and played the Fife lowly,• Played the dead march as we carried him along.• Down in the green valley, laid the sod o'er him.• He was a young cowboy and he said he'd done wrong.

Cowboy Song Activity

• Think about what it would mean to be a cowboy.

• Think about unheard and unrepresented voices

• Use the cowboy lingo if it helps.

Writing a Cowboy Ballad

• A ballad is a story told in a song which uses four line stanzas and a rhyming pattern.

• Common rhyming patterns are abac, aabb, or acbc.

Your Ticket to Leave:

• On a piece of paper, briefly address these questions:

• What did you learn today?• What do you still want to learn?• How can you relate this to what your

already know?

Thank you for learning today!