My Own Lyrics Challenge 1949 - Riders in the Sky – Stan Jones
The title and lyrics of “Riders in the Sky” tell a folk tale of a cowboy who has a vision of cattle thundering across the sky, being chased by the spirits of damned cowboys.
One of the tortured souls warns him that if he does not change his ways, he will be doomed to join them forever. Jones had been told the story when he was 12 years old by an old Native American in Arizona.
The Native Americans believed that when souls vacate their bodies, they reside as spirits in the sky, resembling ghost riders. Later when looking at clouds, Stan would see the cloudy shapes as the "ghost riders" that years later, he would turn into the song lyrics.
My Own Lyrics Challenge is going through the years to spotlight cool songs and this post is for 1949. “Riders in the Sky” as recorded by Vaughn Monroe had its first of many hits in that year. It spent half of the year on the charts and reached number 1 in a few of those weeks. It was also number 1 on the year end chart.
More than 50 performers have recorded versions of the song since then. Members of the Western Writers of America chose this song as the greatest Western song of all time.
Here is Vaughn Monroe in concert in 1965
Roy Clark is Live in Branson Missouri in 1990 showing us how to play the guitar and be funny even with such a chilling tale.
And the supergroup “The Highwaymen” do things right at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York 1990. This group of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson played together and made albums for only a couple of years.
Riders in the Sky lyrics – Stan Jones
A lone cowpoke went riding out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed cows he saw
A-plowin' through the ragged skies and up a cloudy draw
Yippee-yi-yo, yippee-yi, ghost herd in the sky
Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel
Their horns were black and shiny and their hots breath he could feel
A bolt of fear shot through him as he looked up in the sky
For he saw the riders comin' hard and he heard their mournful cry
Yippee-yi-yo, yippee-yi, ghost riders in the sky
Their faces were gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their shirts all
Soaked with sweat
They're riding hard to catch that herd, but they ain't caught 'em yet
They're ridding hard forever on that range up in the sky
For they've got to catch the devil's herd as they ride on hill and cry
Yippee-yi-yo, yippee-yi, ghost riders in the sky
The cowpokes rode on past him and he heard one call his name
If you want to save your soul from hell a-riding on a range
Then cowboy change your ways today, or with us you will ride
A-trying to catch the devil's herd across these endless skies
Yippee-yi-yo, yippee-yi, the ghost riders in the sky
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