Home on the Range
[1] Dr. Brewster M. Higley (also spelled Highley)[2][3] of Smith County, Kansas, wrote the lyrics as the poem "My Western Home" in 1872 or 1873,[4][5][6][7][8] with at least one source indicating it was written as early as 1871.
[11] In 1871, Higley moved from Indiana and acquired land in Smith County, Kansas under the Homestead Act, living in a small cabin near West Beaver Creek.
[12] Higley was inspired by his surroundings and wrote "My Western Home", which was published in the Smith County Pioneer (KS) newspaper in 1873[4] or 1874[13] and republished March 21, 1874 in The Kirwin Chief.
[19][20] At the time, the origins of "Home on the Range" were obscure and widely debated, although it had been published in 1910 in folklorist John Lomax's Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.
Others who have recorded the song include John Charles Thomas, Connie Francis, Gene Autry, Boxcar Willie, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Johnnie Ray, Slim Whitman, Steve Lawrence and Tori Amos.
The song is also the theme opening music for the early Western films starring Ray "Crash" Corrigan and his two co-stars in their movie roles as "The Three Mesqueteers".
Actor Harry Dean Stanton (as the angel "Gideon") sings an excerpt from his mid-tree perch in the 1985 film One Magic Christmas.
The song has made its way into screen shorts for children and adults, as in the 1954 Looney Tunes cartoon Claws for Alarm, where it is sung by Porky Pig.
"[25][26] It made an appearance on GLOW when Debbie Eagan (played by Betty Gilpin) sang a portion in the fourth episode of the second season.
In 2016, the American progressive rock band Kansas released a version of the song as a bonus track on their album The Prelude Implicit.
[citation needed] In 2024, Filipino actor Derrick Monasterio released a version of the song as a track on their album Pulang Araw: Official Soundtrack.
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and antelope play, Where never is heard a discouraging word And the sky is not clouded all day.
Oh, give me the gale of the Solomon vale, Where light streams with buoyancy flow, On the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever, Any poisonous herbage doth grow.
Chorus— Oh, give me the land where the bright diamond sand Throws light from its glittering stream, Where glideth along the graceful white swan Like a maid in her heavenly dream Chorus— I love these wild flowers in this bright land of ours, I love, too, the curlew's wild scream, The bluffs of white rocks and antelope flocks That graze on our hillsides so green.
Chorus— The air is so pure the breezes so light, The zephyrs so balmy at night, I would not exchange my home here to range Forever in azure so bright.
give me a gale of the Solomon vale, Where the life streams with buoyancy flow; Or the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever, Any poisonous herbage doth grow.
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Oh, give me a land where the bright diamond sand Flows leisurely down the stream; Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along Like a maid in a heavenly dream.
The first and sixth verses of John A. Lomax's 1910 version, "A Home on the Range", are heard in the "Glee Club Rehearsal" sequence of the Broadway musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
