Home on the Range - Folklorist

“Home on the Range”

Description

"Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam...." The singer praises the land of the west, "Where the sky is not cloudy all day." Details vary from version to version, and besides, you all know the song anyway....

Notes

Various candidates have been proposed as the author of this piece, e.g. Daniel Kelley and Dr. Brewster Higley (1873; for this story, see Fuld), "C.O. Swartz... and other prospectors" (1885), and probably others. Given the feel of the piece, it seems likely that there is only a single author -- but I'd have a hard time saying WHICH single author.

Various adaptions have been published over the years, e.g. "Arizona Home" by William and Mary Goodwin (1904), but none depart far from the original form. - RBW

Same tune

Toys, Beautiful Toys (Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 32-33)
Alaska: Home on the Snow (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 243)
Frank Luther & Trio, "Home on the Range Part 5/Part 6" (Decca 1429, 1937)

Recordings

Jules Allen, "Home On The Range" (Victor 21627, 1928; Montgomery Ward M-4343, 1933)
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "Home on the Range" (Supertone 9571, c. 1929)
Black Bros., "Home on the Range" (OKeh 45572, 1932)
Vernon Dalhart, "Home on the Range" (Brunswick 137, 1927)
Hank Keene, "Home on the Range" (Bluebird B-5241/Montgomery Ward M-4397, 1933)
Frank Luther Trio, "Home on the Range" (Banner 32966/Perfect 12975 [both as Buddy Spencer's Trio], 1933; Conqueror 8273 [as Buddy Spencer Trio], 1934)
Frank Luther & Carson Robison, "Home on the Range" (Columbia 2642-D, 1932)
Ken Maynard, "Home on the Range" (Columbia test recording, c. 1930; on MakeMe, WhenIWas2)
Patt Patterson & Lois Dexter, "Home on the Range" Perfect 12650, 1930 [as "A Home on the Range"]; Conqueror 7711, 1931)
Red River Dave, "Home on the Range" (Sonora 1063, n.d.)
Roy Rogers, "Home on the Range" (RCA Victor 21-0077, 1949)
Pete Seeger, "Home on the Range" (on PeteSeeger17, CowFolkCD1)

References