Git Along, Little Dogies

"Git Along, Little Dogies" is a traditional cowboy ballad, also performed under the title "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo." It is believed to be a variation of a traditional Irish ballad about an old man rocking a cradle.[1] The cowboy adaptation is first mentioned in the 1893 journal of Owen Wister, author of The Virginian.[1] Through Wister's influence, the melody and lyrics were first published in 1910 in John Lomax's Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.[1][2] It is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 827. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[3]

For the film, see Git Along Little Dogies (film).

The "dogies" referred to in the song are runty or orphaned calves.[4]

The earliest commercial recording of the song was by Harry "Mac" McClintock in 1929 (released on Victor V-40016 as "Get Along, Little Doggies"). Other artists who have recorded the song include Bing Crosby (for his 1960 album How the West Was Won), Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, the Sons of the Pioneers, Pete Seeger, The Bar G Wranglers, The Kingston Trio, Charlie Daniels, David Bromberg, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Holly Golightly, Karen Dalton, Suzy Bogguss and Nickel Creek. It was adapted in the cartoon Animaniacs as "The Ballad of Magellan".

Historian Richard White borrowed a line from the song as the title of his 1991 book It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own: A New History of the American West.

References
  1. White, John I. (1975). Git Along, Little Dogies: Songs and Songmakers of the American West. University of Illinois Press. p. 22.
  2. Lomax, John A. (1910). Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. New York: Sturgis & Walton. p. 87.
  3. Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
  4. Cassidy, Frederic Gomes, and Joan Houston Hall. "dogie" Dictionary of American Regional English. ISBN 978-0-674-20511-6 June 4, 2009


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