# Help needed with lyrics to a kids song about a cowboy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-with-lyrics-to-a-kids-song-about-a-cowboy/291906>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 25, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-with-lyrics-to-a-kids-song-about-a-cowboy/291906 "2005-02-25T17:42:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-with-lyrics-to-a-kids-song-about-a-cowboy/291906/1 "2005-02-25T17:42:37Z")

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I’m looking for the words to a song we used to sing at camp.

The snippets I am remembering might be from two different songs, or parts of the same song.

Part One:  
Something about “Randolph the Shiny Gun Cowboy” possibly sung to the tune of Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer

Part Two:  
“… rootin tootin son of a gun from Arizona  
Ragtime cowboy, talk about your cowboy, Ragtime Cowboy Joe”  
Ring any bells with anyone?

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**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-with-lyrics-to-a-kids-song-about-a-cowboy/291906/2 "2005-02-25T18:51:57Z")

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That song is called “Ragtime Cowboy Joe”

Oh how he sings  
Raggy music in his [can’t remember word]  
While he swings  
Back and forth in his saddle  
On a horse (_What a horse!_)  
That is syncopated-gaited  
What a funny meter to the roar of his repeater…

Check for that title. Possibly written by Ross Bagdasarian (David Seville) for Alvin and the Chipmunks.

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**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-with-lyrics-to-a-kids-song-about-a-cowboy/291906/3 "2005-02-25T19:07:30Z")

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Oh, and if you Yahoo! the terms “lyrics”, and “had a very shiny gun”, you will come upon a long list of possible parodies of the Rudolph song. Needless to say, “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” is not sung to the tune of “Rudolph.”

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**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-with-lyrics-to-a-kids-song-about-a-cowboy/291906/4 "2005-02-25T19:20:33Z")

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Hah! I remembered.

_Oh how he sings  
Raggy music to his cattle._

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-with-lyrics-to-a-kids-song-about-a-cowboy/291906/5 "2005-02-25T20:54:03Z")

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“Ragtime Cowboy Joe” was a 1949 hit for Jo Stafford and Paul Weston. It’s available on various compilation albums.

[Lyrics by Lewis F. Muir and Maurice Abrahams; music by Grant Clarke](http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/ragtime.htm)