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Written by
Language
English
Adapted from
My Bonnie written by
Comments
"Cowboy's Dream" was originally titled "Sweet By-and-By Revised" or "The Cowboy's Sweet By and By". The authorship of "The Cowboy's Dream" has been ascribed to many people.

Dominick J. O'Malley (1867-1943) is one of them and he recalls that "Sweet By-and-By Revised" was one of his earliest attempts at verse making. He believes it probably was the third or fourth poem of the forty or more that he wrote while following the cowpuncher’s trade.
The original, which he says appeared in the Stock Growers’ Journal during the middle 1880’s, is a rather crude set of verses, only five in number. O'Malley credited another puncher, Tom Phelps, with the idea for the verses. "Tom was singing 'Sweet By and By' most of the time. He had a habit of closing a verse with, `I wonder if ever a cowboy will get to that Sweet By and By'. This gave me the idea for the poem."

According to the website Cowboy Poetry, O'Malley's verses are:

SWEET BY AND BY REVISED

Tonight as I lay on the prairie
Looking up at the stars in the sky
I wonder if ever a cowboy
Will go to that sweet by and by.

For the trail to that bright mystic region
Is both dim and narrow, so they say
While the broad one that leads to perdition
Is posted and blazed all the way.

Now I wonder whose fault that so many
Will be lost at the great final day
When they might have been rich and had plenty
If they had known of the dim narrow way.

I hear there will be a grand round-up,
When the cowboys, like others, will stand
To be cut by the riders of judgment
Who are posted and know every brand.

Then perhaps there may be a stray cowboy,
Unbranded, unclaimed by none nigh,
To be mavericked by the riders of judgment,
And shipped to the sweet by- and- by.


Another person claiming autorship is Will Croft Barnes (1858-1936), who first heard "Cowboy's Sweet By and By" in 1886-1887
"I first heard this song in 1886 or '87 on the Hash Knife range in northern Arizona. A half-breed Indian boy from southern Utah sang about four verses, which he had picked up from some other singers. He knew nothing of their authorship. I wrote these four out in my calf-branding book one evening.
Later on a boy from down the Pecos way drifted into our camp and sang the four with slight variations, with two new ones, one of which he claimed as his own work. I wrote another and eventually picked up three more, until I finally had ten verses in all. With the idea of using it as the motif for a cowboy story, I rewrote two or three verses, changed the words of several, added the chorus, and cut the ten down to six verses. With these revisions it was published in Cosmopolitan Magazine, August 1895; "The Stampede on the Turkey Track Range"
He said that he added the "Roll On" chorus, but didn't use it in the story.

Here are W.C. Barnes verses

THE COWBOY'S SWEET BY AND BY
Tune: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Last night as I lay on the prairie
And gazed at the stars in the sky
I wondered if ever a cowboy
Would drift to that sweet by and by.

The trail to that bright, mystic region
Is narrow and dim so they say,
But the one that leads down to perdition
Is staked and blazed all the way.

They say there'll be a great round-up,
Where cowboys, like dogies, will stand,
To be cut by those riders from Heaven,
Who are posted and know every brand.

I wonder was there ever a cowboy
Prepared for that great judgment day,
Who could say to the boss of the riders,
I am ready to be driven away.

They say He will never forsake you,
That he notes every action and look,
But for safety you'd better get branded,
And have your name in His great tally-book.

For they tell of another great owner
Who is nigh overstocked, so they say,
But who always makes room for the sinner
Who strays from that bright, narrow way.
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Versions

written by unknown author(s) English

Title Performer Release date Info
1901 First release
1919
March 1928
1938
listen on Internet Archive January 16, 1939
1941
May 1949
August 1952
July 1958
1958
listen on Internet Archive 1958 Medley
1959
listen on Internet Archive 1959
1960
1960
listen on Internet Archive October 23, 1961
1961
listen on Internet Archive 1961 Medley
January 15, 1962
March 1962
1962
Did You Ever See a Lassie / My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean Peter Pan Orchestra And Chorus 1962 Unverified
1963
1963
1963
1963
1963
June 1964
1964
1964
1964
1964
1964
1966
1968
1968
1968
July 1969
1969
My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean The George Head Congregation 1971 Unverified
1973
1973
January 1974 Released more than 10 years after its recording
1975 Medley
1975
1977
1979
My Bonnie Koor Campinaria En De Heibinkjes 1982 Unverified
1984
1986
1987
1993
September 11, 1995 Medley
1995
1995
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean [CRS Players] 1995 Unverified
1997
1999
2000
2000
2001
2001
July 5, 2004
2005
2006
2006
2009
2010 Released more than 10 years after its recording
Medley
2010
July 25, 2011
November 2019
2019 Medley
April 22, 2022

instrumental

Title Performer Release date Info
listen on Internet Archive i 1925
i 1952
listen on Internet Archive i 1953
i 1957
listen on Internet Archive i May 1958
i December 1959
i 1962
i 1963
i 1963
i 1964
i 1964
i 1964 Medley
i 1964
i 1964 Medley
i 1965
i 1966
i 1968 Medley
i 1968 Medley
i 1968 Medley
i 1968
i 1969
i 1970
i 1971 Medley
i 1971
i 1974
i 1974 Medley
i 1975
i 1976
i 1976
i 1977
i 1978 Medley
i 1980
i 1982 Medley
i 1984
i 1988
i 1999
i 2001
i 2007 Live
i 2010
i 2010
i 2015 Medley
i June 18, 2021
i Medley: 'K Zou Zo Graag Een Borreltje Lusten / My Bonny / 'T Peerd Van Ome Loeks / Waldeslust / Twe… Draaiorgel "De Turk" Unverified

written by , instrumental The Ventures version

K australským břehům written by Czech (not verified yet)