Ragtime Cowboy Joe

Words by Grant Clarke

Music by Lewis E. Muir & Maurice Abrahams

as recorded by Joe Stafford on Capitol Records

Copyright 1912, 1939 Alfred Music Company, Inc.

Out in Arizona where the bad men are, and the only friend to guide you is an evening star,  the roughest, toughest man by far, is RAGTIME COWBOY JOE.  Got his name from singin' to the cows and sheep; every night, they say, he sings the herd to sleep, in a basso, rich and deep, crooning soft and low.

Dressed up every Sunday in his Sunday clothes, he then beats it for the village where he always goes; and every girl in town is Joe's, 'cause he's a ragtime bear.  When he start a spielin' on the dance hall floor, no one but a lunatic would start a war; wise men know his forty-four, makes men dance for fair.

CHORUS

He always sings raggy music to the cattle, as he swings back and forward in the saddle on a horse that is syncopated, gaited; and there's such a funny meter to the roar of his repeater! How they run, when they hear that fellow's gun, because the Western folks all know.  He's a high falutin', scootin;, shootin'; son of a gun from Arizona, RAGTIME COWBOY JOE!