The Disney anthology feature Melody Time (1948) ends with a segment about Pecos Bill. The accompanying song, sung by Roy Rogers & The Sons of the Pioneers, features “yippie-ai-yay ai-yay, yippie-ai-yo” in the chorus. It has a way of burrowing into your ear holes, so I won’t link to it.
It wasn’t written by Rogers. Eliot Daniel and Johnny Lange did. They also wrote “Blue Shadows On the Trail” for the same segment, which has lived on as a classic western trail song.
Another song is “The Old Chisholm Trail”. According to Wikipedia, it dates back to the 1870s. It was first published in 1910 in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, edited by John A. Lomax. The earliest recorded version seems to be by Harry McClintock in 1928. I like Randy Travis’ version better.
Come on, boys, and listen to my tale,
I’ll tell you my troubles on the old Chisholm Trail,
Come a tie yie yippie yippie yay, yippie yay,
Come a tie yie yippie yippie yay
Having actually been on a (short) cattle drive, I can attest that you do need to yell at the cows sometimes to get them to stop eating and start moving again. It doesn’t really matter what, but “yippee ki yay” would work as good as anything. Presume this is the “cowboy hollers” referenced above.
Just thought you’d like to know that it is Wiktionary’s Word of the Day today.
Every time this thread pops up to the top and I see the title, this song gets stuck in my head and I will have the earworm for the next two days. And if you click on the link, now you’ll share the earworm. You’re welcome.
That’s your misfortune
And none of my own.
Frank Zappa had a slight variation on it - Yippy-Aye-O-Ty-Ay - in his 1973 song Montana.
Has anyone considered a possible Spanish language origin to this and similar phrases? It’s mere speculation on my part, but there are a great number of “cowboy” words and phrases that arose from the interaction of Spanish speaking and English speaking ranchers in the southwestern U.S.
♫ Yippie-yi-o
Yippie-yi-yay
Ghost riders in the sky ♫
More likely from Amerind languages.
Perhaps the sun is almost set.
Any cigarettes need rolling?
I heard on Doctor Demento the Swedish cowboy song, which tells me
“Yippie-ki-yooooo der yippie- ki-yayyyyy
I don’t know why ve yell dis, but ve yell it all der day
Yippie-ki-yooooo der yippie- ki-yeeeeee
Riding on those horsies wants to make you take a rest”