Story Behind The Song

My son Nathan would not go to sleep. I had been playing for almost an hour one night. I paused for a moment to let the feeling return to my fingertips, when Nathan said, "Play the cowboy one." He was about four and a half years old, and I had never played any cowboy song, and could not even remember mentioning the word cowboy to him. But he persisted, "Play the cowboy one!" I said, "You mean like this?" And I started Carter-picking some chords. "Yeah, that's it," he exclaimed. Although I played that ad nauseum, he was still awake. Suddenly the words popped into my head. I grabbed a pencil and paper, wrote it down, and sang him to sleep with a rough version of "Cowboys Go To Sleep."

Song Description

you'll enjoy the caricature-like imagery of this cowboy stereotype as applied to a children's bedtime song

Lyrics

cowboys ride the range
and cowboys talk real strange
cowboys spit and chew
and cowboys don't wear shoes
a cowboy ropes a steer
another cowboy brands him on the rear
and cowboys just eat beans
I think you know what that means

if you think you're a cowboy
then do like cowboys do
cowboys and girls it's late
you should be sleepin' too

cowboys work real hard
so cowboys get real tired
and when the sun sinks deep
cowboys go to sleep

if you think you're a cowboy
then do like cowboys do
cowboys and girls it's late
you should be sleepin' too

cowboys work real hard
so cowboys get real tired
and when the sun sinks deep
cowboys go to sleep
cowboys go to sleep
cowboys go to sleep
they might be countin' sheep
but cowboys go to sleep
and you won't hear a peep
cuz cowboys go to sleep
this truth is yours to keep
cowboys go to sleep
so hush you little creep
cowboys go to sleep