# Cowboy song lyric question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574 "2001-01-24T16:50:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![djbdjb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/1 "2001-01-24T16:50:54Z")
I ride an old paint, I lead an old dan I’m goin’ to Montana to throw the hoolihan. 1. What is the “hoolihan”? 2. What’s a dan? Slang/mispronounciation of “Dun”? ---
**Author:** ![Tabeitha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b3f665/32.png) [@Tabeitha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabeitha)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/2 "2001-01-24T17:22:21Z")
What song is this? I listen to a lot of Country music and this does not look right. If I knew the artist/song title I might be able to help. Don’t forget to take into account any accents the singer may have. ---
**Author:** ![Perderabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Perderabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perderabo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/3 "2001-01-24T17:30:08Z")
_Hoolihan_ is a roping style. Click [here](http://www.ohacosales.com/Hoolihan/hoolihan.html) for more info. I looked up _dan_ [here](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=dan). I guess I would go with “(Mining) A small truck or sledge used in coal mines” as most likley to mesh with this context. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/4 "2001-01-24T18:11:03Z")
For some reason it’s in my head that “Dan” is slang for a male mule. I don’t have a cite, though. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/5 "2001-01-24T18:35:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spoke- \* > \*\*For some reason it’s in my head that “Dan” is slang for a male mule. I don’t have a cite, though. \*\* Hey! I resent that! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/6 "2001-01-24T19:09:10Z")
It’s a cowboy traditional, not a C&W song: [http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3448/paint.html](http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3448/paint.html) ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/7 "2001-01-24T19:24:53Z")
My understanding is that the “dan” is a pack mule and that “throw the houlihan” means take part in a rodeo (a roping event, obviously). So the guy’s traveling to a rodeo on a horse, trailing a pack mule. I have zero citation for this, but that’s always been my understanding of the song. I don’t think a “dan” is a wagon or sleigh, because the song refers to “watering them,” meaning the animals (plural). ---
**Author:** ![djbdjb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/8 "2001-01-24T21:46:27Z")
while on this subject (I recently bought CD of cowboy songs), does anyone know of a painting based on the song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” ? A’plowing through the ragged sky/ and up a cloudy draw… ---
**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/9 "2001-01-25T00:13:07Z")
I don’t think a hoolihan would be used in rodeo, it’s a technique for roping a horse without spooking it, not very showy. More likely he would have been leaving to find work as a horse wrangler. Some versions of the song say “I lead Old Dan”, which would have been the name of his pack animal. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/10 "2001-01-25T01:23:40Z")
DAMN! I love my Lighter! My _Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Edited by J. E. Lighter., Vol II_, that is. The song first appears _in print in the US_ 1910 in a collection of American Ballads. The next appearance of the word is **as a verb** and meaning _to bulldog a steer without twisting his neck._ The next is as a verb, 1933, saying that the practice has been banned at all good rodeos. Then, 1936, some guy saying that it was the old-time(!) practice of bull-dogging. (The ! was mine). In 1944 we learn that _throw the houlihan_ means, among cowboys, _to paint the town red._ The usage as a _backhand thrown loop for roping horses_ doesn’t appear in print until 1985. Lighter gives no usage of Dan to mean anything concering an animal. I may post more help as I find it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/11 "2001-01-25T04:23:43Z")
While we’re at it, what’s a Zebra Dun, and what’s a Strawberry Roan? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-song-lyric-question/51574/12 "2001-01-25T04:59:04Z")
And let’s not forget…“Ride around, little dogies, ride around them slow, For the **fiery and snuffy** are a-rarin’ to go”