# Cowboy music motif origin **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-music-motif-origin/803562 "2017-12-04T18:52:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pianodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e79b87/32.png) [@pianodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pianodave)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-music-motif-origin/803562/1 "2017-12-04T18:52:26Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-music-motif-origin/803562/2 "2017-12-04T19:06:11Z")
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](https://youtu.be/6_7DA1G6tVs?t=1m31s) Or the Happy Trails theme - [Happy Trails (Instrumental) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIpBT54F6Tw) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-music-motif-origin/803562/3 "2017-12-04T19:17:08Z")
Sorry. All I got is this: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpBTgmPgFxs) ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-music-motif-origin/803562/4 "2017-12-04T21:34:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-music-motif-origin/803562/5 "2017-12-04T23:18:37Z")
You will be hearing it a lot for the next few weeks as it’s used in, “A Christmas Story,” fairly prominently. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-music-motif-origin/803562/6 "2017-12-04T23:39:12Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Any chance it’s a variation of the Grand Canyon Suite: On the Trail movement - [https://youtu.be/6\_7DA1G6tVs?t=1m31s](https://youtu.be/6_7DA1G6tVs?t=1m31s) > > Or the Happy Trails theme - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIpBT54F6Tw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIpBT54F6Tw) Way earlier. _Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie_ (“The Dying Cowboy”) and [_Cowboy’s Lament_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14UKBjC5Is) 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.