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JAKE AND RONEY (Henry Herbert Knibbs) Well, Jake an' Roney was a ride'n along Jakey was a sing'n what 'e called a song Up from a gulley what should appear An old moss back sukey an' a bald face steer Jake took after with his hat pulled down He built him a blocker that's stop a town Steer, he headed for th setting sun Believe me neighbors, he could hump it n' run Well, Roney followed up his pardners deal Just two ole waddies that could head an' heel Both of them a work'n for the Chicken Coop With a red hot iron and a hungry loop The sun was shin'n in ole Jakes eyes He wasn't look'n for no big surprise The steer give a wiggle like his shirt was tight He busted thru the junipers an' dropped out'a sight Well, Jakey's horse done a figure eight Jake done his addin' just a mite too late He went out'a the saddle a seein' red An' he landed in the gravel of a dry river-bed Well, Roney's horse was a good horse, too Couldn't quite figure out why Jake flew So, he dumped ole Roney where th ground was hard They both lit out a runn'n for th home cattle yard Jake said, a hold'n up a swell'n thumb Said he, "Well I reckon we was go'n some." But Roney he hollered, "Get away from here We're both gon'na tangle with th bald face steer." Well, Roney climb a straddle a juniper tree "There's no more room up here," said he Jakey he think'n himself to save He backs in the opening of a cut-bank cave The steer he charged with his head way down A roll'n of his eyes an' a paw'n th ground Hook'n an' a snuff'n an' a turn'n about Every few seconds old Jake'd pop out Well, Roney said, "You ole fool stay back out'a sight! Ya act like ya hanker'n for t' make him fight." But Jakey hollered so the world could hear, "Stay back noth'in, there's a bear in here." As sung by Glenn Orhlin, Mountain View, Arkansas on May 25, 1969 There's also a version called "The Bosky Steer" in Katie Lee's Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle (pp. 92-93) There is an older version from an article called "Cowboy Ballads" by Myra Hull, taken from the February, 1939, edition of the Kansas Historical Quarterly: Notes from Myra Hull: The words and music of "Jake and Rome" were sent to me by Dr. Hull Alden Cook, with this note of explanation: "This is the song as I obtained it from a Navajo girl at Kayenta, Ariz. Her adopted name is Betty Wetherill, and she has been adopted into John Wetherill's family. She and her sister sang this to me one night in June, 1935, at the Wetherill ranch home, in the heart of the desert." First published in 1930 in "Songs of the Lost Frontier,"by Henry Herbert Knibbs (1874-1945), "The Bosky Steer" quickly was picked up by cowboys, and by the time Myra Hull published in 1939, the song had entered tradition with different names, but the story line remained fairly constant. 'Bosky' is a corruption of the Spanish ' bosque,' a brushy, wooded place, often following a stream course and a favorite shelter for mavericks and wild animals. Knibbs bought a little ranch in California in 1911, where he learned about cowboys. He was at home with them and their ways, and several of his poems entered their repertoire. His life was influenced by his friend, rancher-author Eugene Manlove Rhodes. His collected poetry was published in 1999. "Riders of the Stars" was his first western poetry book, 1916. Katie Lee, "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle," pp. 92-93, gives a brief biographical note and the text of "The Bosky Steer"; music, pp. 191-192, as noted by Joe Offer, above. The composer of the distinctive music has not been identified. @cowboy @animal filename[ BALDSTER BX Feb07  8note Sheet |
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