That link should be a thread about twisted Christmas Carols. It jiggled my memory, and caused me to ask this question. Fact: In 1954, I was in 4th grade, at McKinley Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia. My best friend was Douglas Broiles. Dougie. I’m not sure of the spelling of his last name.
Around Christmas time we wrote a parody of the then-popular tune “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” by Gene Autry. I remember sitting in class trying out different lyrics. We “invented” Randolph the Bowlegged Cowboy." Or did we?
We certainly came up with that phrase. But did it exist before we “invented” it? Did Dougie influence us, having heard it somewhere prior to this? Did I? Not that I am aware.
Doug was only there that year. His parents were military and left. He must have had a connection to Ohio(where I now live) as he had a bag of “buceyes” which we threw around the neighborhood like so many marbles. That info has nothing to do with the story.
So: did Doug and I invent the parody “Randolph the Bowlegged Cowboy?” Or did we just steal it?
Yeah! Yeah! I know. I could Google around, and find some kind of prelim. answer, but then, what would DDG have to do tonight?
When I was a kid in Toledo, OH, we sang a song with the same lyrics as fatdave’s song, but with the title “Randolph the Six-gun Shooter.” This was in the late 80s.
My mother taught me “Randolph the Bow-Legged Cowboy” when I was a kid, and told me that she had learned it as a schoolgirl in Plant City, FL. She’s about five years younger than samclem. That’s the only source from which I’ve ever heard the song.
Funny, I was singing that song to myself just last night.
