Home on the range

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A photograph from the Raiford Penitentiary, Florida, 1939

Home on the Range has been the official state song of the US state of Kansas since June 30, 1947 . The lyrics of the song, which is considered a cowboy song, are taken from a poem by Brewster M. Higley written in 1871 or 1872 while in Smith County . Born in Ohio , Higley came to Kansas in 1871. The music was composed in 1873 by Daniel E. Kelly, who came to Kansas in 1872 and previously served in the US Army.

history

poem

Brewster M. Higley, also Brewster Higley the VI.

After four failed marriages, Higley settled in Kansas to purchase his own land under the Homestead Act . His poem, which became the basis of Home on the Range , was initially titled Oh give me a Home or Oh Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam and was probably written in 1872. Another name is Western Home .

Adopted as a state song from Kansas

Despite the song's popularity, there has also been controversy surrounding its adoption as an official Kansas song. Because most of the buffalos mentioned in the song had already been hunted and killed by whites, so that they could no longer roam the country (roughly synonymous with roam). Furthermore, the origin of the song was not entirely clear, other states also proclaimed the song for themselves, as different versions of the song had spread in several states. The origin could only be established through further investigations; the composer and lyricist were also only discovered in the course of these investigations. However, the origin was already clear in 1935 and it took another 12 years until the song became a state song.

Cover versions and use in films

The song has been interpreted by several well-known singers, including Sting , Frank Sinatra , Pete Seeger and Roy Rogers . There were also interpretations by Bing Crosby , Gene Autry , David Allan Coe and the fictional music group Alvin and the Chipmunks .

In the film Lucky Luke with Terence Hill , the Daltons sing the song. The score for Blast - Where the Buffaloes Roar - is an interpretation by Neil Young . In the Japanese adaptation of the manga I Am A Hero of the same name , the chorus of the song is sung a cappella by the main character Hideo in the text version by John A.Lomax.

At the beginning of the episode A Storm on the Prairie in the Go Wild! Mission Wildnis sings the Wild-Team Home on the Prairie - with the melody of Home on the Range and a modified and translated lyrics. Martin plays the acoustic guitar.

Trivia

The song had well-known followers. It is considered the favorite song of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt , and polar explorer Richard Evelyn Byrd sang the song to escape loneliness.

Three versions in comparison

Dr. Brewster Higley (1876) William and Mary Goodwin (1904) John A. Lomax (1910)
Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam
Where the Deer and the Antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the sky is not cloudy all day.
Chorus
A home! A home!
Where the Deer and the Antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the sky is not clouded all day.
Oh! give me a land where the bright diamond sand
Throws its light from the glittering streams,
Where glideth along the graceful white swan,
Like the maid in her heavenly dreams.
Chorus
Oh! give me a gale of the Solomon vale,
Where the life streams with buoyancy flow;
On the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever,
Any poisonous herbage doth grow.
Chorus
How often at night, when the heavens were bright,
With the light of the twinkling stars
Have I stood here amazed, and asked as I gazed,
If their glory exceed that of ours.
Chorus
I love the wild flowers in this bright land of ours,
I love the wild curlew's shrill scream;
The bluffs and white rocks, and antelope flocks
That graze on the mountains so green.
Chorus
The air is so pure and the breezes so fine,
The zephyrs so balmy and light,
That I would not exchange my home here to range
Forever in azure so bright.
Chorus
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
There seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the sky is not cloudy all day.
Chorus
A home, a home
Where the deer and the antelope play,
There seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the sky is not cloudy all day.
Yes, give me the gleam of the swift mountain stream
And the place where no hurricane blows;
Oh, give me the park where the prairie dogs bark
And the mountain all covered with snow.
Chorus
Oh, give me the hills and the ring of the drills
And the rich silver ore in the ground;
Yes, give me the gulch where the miner can sluice
And the bright, yellow gold can be found.
Chorus
Oh, give me the mine where the prospectors find
The gold in its own native land;
And the hot springs below where the sick people go
And camp on the banks of the Grande.
Chorus
Oh, give me the steed and the gun that I need
To shoot game for my own cabin home;
Then give me the camp where the fire is the lamp
And the wild Rocky Mountains to roam.
Chorus
Yes, give me the home where the prospectors roam
Their business is always alive
In these wild western hills midst the ring of the drills
Oh, there let me live till I die.
Chorus
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Chorus
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free,
The breezes so balmy and light,
That I would not exchange my home on the range
For all of the cities so bright.
Chorus
The red man was pressed from this part of the West
He's likely no more to return,
To the banks of Red River where seldom if ever
Their flickering camp-fires burn.
Chorus
How often at night when the heavens are bright
With the light from the glittering stars
Have I stood here amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of ours.
Chorus
Oh, I love these wild prairies where I roam
The curlew I love to hear scream,
And I love the white rocks and the antelope flocks
That graze on the mountain-tops green.
Chorus
Oh, give me a land where the bright diamond sand
Flows leisurely down the stream;
Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along
Like a maid in a heavenly dream.
Chorus

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prairie Who? (A Storm on the Prairie) on Wild Kratts Wiki