THE COWBOY NIGHT HERD SONG
(Roy Rogers & The Sons Of The Pioneers mid 1936)

Roy Rogers 1936

Also sung by:
Gary Kirkland



On night guard, I’m a ridin’
‘Round a thousand bedded steers
And tonight my thoughts are slidin’
Down the trail of distant years.

Coyotes howlin’ in the darkness
Chills my weary bones
Varmints prowl around the campfire
Makes the cowboy feel at home.

(Rogers yodels a bridge)

Now the cold north wind is blowin’
Snow comes fallin’ down
Wrapped in my saddle blanket
Sleepin’ on the cold cold ground.

I used to ponder over my luck
Wondered why it never changed
I was happy and free
Around my mammy’s knee
Pullin’ on her apron strings.

(Rogers yodels a bridge)

(bridge The Sons Of The Pioneers)

Now I long to see the sun come shinin’
Stealin’ through my kitchen door
Just to see my dear old mammy cookin’ ham
On that old kitchen stove.

Where the mockingbird sings you to sleep at night
The moonbeams playin’ through the trees
Some like the climate out in New Mexico
But give me back my sunny Tennessee.

(Rogers yodels a bridge to end)

NOTES

The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the original American western
singing/songwriting groups of the 1930s and continue the legend to this day
singing with differing members as time moves along.



(Transcribed by David Story - October 2013)