• This song performed by family friend Gretchen Herndon at the school's dedication cerermony was a favorite of Mrs. Mac. This song was written in 1912 by Maurice Abrahams.
     
    Ragtime Cowboy Joe (lyrics)
     
    Out in Ar-iz-o-na where the bad men are
    And the on-ly friend to guide you is an Eve-'ning star
    The rough-est, tough-est man by far is Rag-time Cow Boy Joe
    Joe got his name from sing-ing to the cows and sheep
    Ev'ry night they say he sings the herd to sleep
    In a bass-o rich and deep croon-in' soft and low.

    CHORUS
    He al-ways sings rag-gy mu-sic to the cat-tle
    As he swings back and for-ward in the sad-dle
    On a horse that is syn-co-pat-ed, gait-ed,
    And there's such a fun-ny me-ter to the roar of his re-peat-er
    How they run when hear that fel-low's gun
    Because the West-ern folks all know
    He's a high-fa-lut-ing, scoot-ing, shoot-ing
    Son-of-a-gun from ar-iz-o-na Rag-time Cow Boy Joe.

    He dressed up ev'ry Sun-day in his Sun-day clothes
    He beats it for the vil-lage where he al-ways goes
    And ev'ry girl in town is Joe's 'cause he's a rag-time bear.
    When he starts a-spieling on the dance hall floor
    No one but a lun-a-tic would start a war
    Wise men know his fo-rty four makes men dance for fair.

    CHORUS
    Original Cover 1912
Last Modified on August 16, 2023