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Cheyenne (song)
Encyclopedia
"Cheyenne" is a popular and sentimental song written in 1906, with words by Harry Williams and music by Egbert Van Alstyne. It became a hit for a number of artists. The chorus is:
In the 1943 cartoon
"Yankee Doodle Daffy
", Daffy Duck
puts on a cowboy hat and rides Porky Pig
like a horse, as the exasperated pig is trying to get rid and away from the annoying duck, who sings these not-overly-clever lyrics to the same tune:
At the time the song was first popular, scandals about conditions in meat-packing plants were in the news. Billy Murray
, who had also recorded a "straight" version of the song, recorded a biting parody about a diseased horse that was targeted for such a plant. The chorus:
- Shy Ann, Shy Ann, hop on my pony,
- There's room here
- For two dear,
- But after the ceremony,
- We'll both ride back home dear, as one,
- On my pony, from old Cheyenne.
Other uses
The song became a staple of the underscore of western films, to the point of being stereotyped. It also lent itself well to parody.In the 1943 cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
"Yankee Doodle Daffy
Yankee Doodle Daffy
Yankee Doodle Daffy is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1943, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Tedd Pierce...
", Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
puts on a cowboy hat and rides Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
like a horse, as the exasperated pig is trying to get rid and away from the annoying duck, who sings these not-overly-clever lyrics to the same tune:
- I'm a cowboy
- Yes, sir, I am
- Yes, sir, I am a cowboy
- Yes, sir, I am
- I'm a cowboy
- Yes, sir, I am
- Yes, sir, I am a cow-ow-boy
At the time the song was first popular, scandals about conditions in meat-packing plants were in the news. Billy Murray
Billy Murray (singer)
William Thomas "Billy" Murray was one of the most popular singers in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century...
, who had also recorded a "straight" version of the song, recorded a biting parody about a diseased horse that was targeted for such a plant. The chorus:
- Cheyenne, Cheyenne, you sick old pony
- We'll take you
- And bake you
- And make you into baloney
- And the folks who eat you won't know
- You're that pony from old Cheyenne