Western Song: Little Joe, the Wrangler
Members of The Western Writers of America included Little Joe, the Wrangler in the list of the Top 100 Western Songs of all time. This classic American cowboy song is written by Jack Thorp in 1898 while helping trail a herd from Chimney Lake, New Mexico, to Higgins, Texas.
Thorp wrote the words on an old paper bag while sitting around the campfire one night. Since he knew the wrangler, he decided to write a song about him to the tune of “Little Old Log Cabin on the Lane.” After Thorp sang the song at a salon in Weed, New Mexico, it began to circulate around the cattle camps. The song is included in Thorp’s 1908 Songs of the Cowboys, which was the first published collection of cowboy songs. It has been sung over and over in cow camps for over a century and has been recorded by many Western singers.
The song is about a solitary orphan who was taken by a group of cowboys and put to work at a man’s job. Little Joe’s horse suffers a fall during a stampede crushing him beneath, and so that is how tragic the life of Little Joe ends.
Popular Recordings
The song has been recorded by artists such as:
- Marc Williams
- Jules Allen
- The Texas Drifter
- Edward L. Crain (The Texas Cowboy)
- Leon Chappelear
- Cisco Houston
- Merrick Jarrett
- Harry Jackson
- Tex Ritter
- Marty Robbins
- Lew Childre
- Arnold Keith Storm
- The Sons of the Pioneers
- Nevada Slim
- Rex Allen
- Red Steagall and The Coleman County Cowboys
- Don Edwards
- Roy Rogers and Emmylou Harris
- Lesley Schatz
- Ranger Doug & Riders in the Sky
- Dom Flemons
- Chris LeDoux
Listen (Marty Robbins Version)
Little Joe, the Wrangler Lyrics
Little Joe the Wrangler will wrangle nevermore His days with the roundup they are o'er Was a year ago last April when he rode into our camp Just a little Texas stray and nothing more Was late in the evening when he rode into our camp On the little Texas pony he called Chaw With his brogan shoes and overalls a tougher looking kid You never in your life before had saw His saddle was a Texas kack built many years ago An OK spur on one foot lightly swung With his packroll in a cotton sack so loosely tied behind And a canteen from his saddle horn was slung He said he had to leave his home his pa had married twice His new ma whipped him every day or two So he saddled up old Chaw one night and lit a shuck his way He said he'd try to paddle his own canoe He said if we would give him work he'd do the best he could Though he didn't know straight up about a cow So the boss he cut him out a mount and kindly put him on He sorta liked this little kid somehow He learned to wrangle horses and learned to know them all And get them in at daybreakk if he could And to trail the old chuck wagon and always hitch the team And help to cook each evening rustle wood We had hardly reached the Pecos the weather it was fine We were camped down on the south side in a draw When a northern commenced blowing and we doubled up our guards It took every one of us to hold them in Little Joe the Wrangler was called out with the rest Scarcely had the little fellow reached the herd When the cattle they stampeded like a hailstorm on they fled And everyone was ridin' for the lead Amid the streaks of lightnin' there was one horse up ahead He was tryin' to check the leaders in their speed It was little Joe the Wrangler with a slicker o'er his head He was ridin' Old Blue Rocket in the lead At last we got them millin' and kinda quited down And the extra guards back to the wagon went But there was one a missin' we could see it at a glance Was our little Texas stray poor Wrangler Joe Next morning just at daybreak we found where Rocket fell Down in a washout twenty feet below Beneath his horse his life had gone his spung had run its knell Was our little Texas stray poor Wrangler Joe
