I'm An Old Cowhand

Words & Music by Johnny Mercer
Recorded by Bing Crosby with Jimmy Dorsey, 1936 (#2)


D      Bm7    Em7  G/B A7         Edim   D    G   D
I'm an old cowhand        from the Rio Grande,

D      Bm7        Em7  G/B A7        Edim         D    G   D
But my legs ain't bowed      and my cheeks ain't tanned;

       Bm              F#m
I'm a cowboy who never saw a cow --

       Bm                     F#m
Never roped a steer, 'cause I don't know how,

      Bm                    F#m
And I sure ain't fixin' to start in now.

D        Em7 G/B  A7+5   D Bm7  D      Em7   G/B A7+5   D
Yippie - yi - yo - ki - yay,   yippie - yi - yo - ki - yay.


D      Bm7    Em7  G/B A7         Edim   D    G   D
I'm an old cowhand       from the Rio Grande,

D      Bm7       Em7  G/B A7         Edim       D    G   D
And I learned to ride       'fore I learned to stand;

      Bm                F#m
I'm a ridin' fool who is up to date --

       Bm                  F#m
I know every trail in the Lone Star state,

         Bm                  F#m
'Cause I ride the range in a Ford V8.

D        Em7 G/B  A7+5   D Bm7  D      Em7   G/B A7+5   D
Yippie - yi - yo - ki - yay,   yippie - yi - yo - ki - yay.


D      Bm7    Em7  G/B A7         Edim   D    G   D
I'm an old cowhand        from the Rio Grande,

D      Bm7    Em7  G/B A7        Edim      D    G   D
And I came to town       just to hear the band;

       Bm                     F#m
I know all the songs that the cowboys know

          Bm                   F#m
'Bout the big corral where the dogies go,

          Bm                     F#m
'Cause I learned them all on the rad-ee-o

D        Em7 G/B  A7+5   D Bm7  D      Em7   G/B A7+5   D
Yippie - yi - yo - ki - yay,   yippie - yi - yo - ki - yay. 
 


*Thanks to recent visitor Sean Burns for the suggestion, and to Tim Berla for fixing the third verse.


 
The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.