Hi SD.
What’s the origin of the cowboy/western motif, and where else can I hear it? It seems to evoke western ease and slow cowboy or cattle.
It’s some variation on FCDC FCDC in the left hand. Or 1-5-6-5. Anyone know what I am referring to?
Dave
Any chance it’s a variation of the Grand Canyon Suite: On the Trail movement - Grand Canyon Suite: On the Trail by Ferde Grofe - YouTube
Or the Happy Trails theme - Happy Trails (Instrumental) - YouTube
Sorry. All I got is this:
Not the origin obviously, but since you asked where else you can hear it, check out Billy Joel’s “The Ballad of Billy the Kid”. It’s the main motif of the prologue, which also goes into some Aaron Copland-esque themes.
You will be hearing it a lot for the next few weeks as it’s used in, “A Christmas Story,” fairly prominently.
Way earlier. Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie (“The Dying Cowboy”) and Cowboy’s Lament were published in a compilation in 1910.* Home on the Range* dates back to the turn of the century.
Supposedly cowboys on the trails used the rhythm of horses’ hoofbeats to come up with the beats.