"Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" is a song by Paula Cole

Paula Cole

Paula Cole is an American singer/songwriter. Her single "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and the following year she won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.-Early life:...

. It is featured in her album This Fire

This Fire (album)

This Fire is Paula Cole's second album and was a commercial success. Writing and producing the album herself, she recorded the record in roughly 2 weeks. According to the RIAA, the album has gone double platinum, selling over 2 million copies in US and peaked at #20 on the Billboard 200 chart. ...

. The song is Cole's only U.S. Top Ten hit on Billboards Hot 100, reaching number 8. It is also Cole's only UK Top-40 hit to date, reaching number 15 on 22 June 1997.

Song information

The song received Grammy nominations for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance is the latest in a series of awards recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. The award goes to the artist...

 (losing to Sarah McLachlan

Sarah McLachlan

Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...

's "Building a Mystery

Building a Mystery

"Building a Mystery" is a song by Sarah McLachlan, from her multi-platinum album Surfacing, first released in 1997. At a live performance, Sarah explains the song as being "basically about the fact that we all.....

"), Record of the Year

Grammy Award for Record of the Year

The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....

, and Song of the Year

Grammy Award for Song of the Year

The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...

 (the latter two losing to "Sunny Came Home

Sunny Came Home

"Sunny Came Home" is a folk-rock song by American musician Shawn Colvin. It is the theme song to her 1996 concept album A Few Small Repairs, and quickly became a hit when it was released as a CD single on June 24, 1997.-About the single:...

" by Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...

).

Music video

The video was directed by Caitlin Felton. It's simple, primarily featuring Paula in the foreground singing or posing for the camera, while her band plays in the background. These shots are augmented by various shadowy or obscure images of people walking, sitting at a table, sitting in a car and riding a horse. There are several points where the video looks grainy, adding to the effect of the song.

"Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" was nominated for Best Female Video at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards

1997 MTV Video Music Awards

The 1997 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 4, 1997, honoring the best music videos from June 17, 1996, to June 16, 1997. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.-Video of the Year:* Beck — "The New Pollution"...

, losing to Jewel

Jewel (singer)

Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...

's "You Were Meant for Me

You Were Meant for Me (Jewel song)

"You Were Meant for Me" is a folk pop song written by Jewel and Steve Poltz and performed by Jewel on her first album, Pieces of You. It relates the singer's incomprehension of a failed relationship, and her inadequate attempts at moving on with her life. It was the second single from that album...

".

Peak positions

Chart (1997)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	15
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	8
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	10
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...	32
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...	27

Year-end charts

Chart (1997)	Position
US Billboard Hot 100	38

Parodies

In 2006, Paul Shanklin

Paul Shanklin

Paul Shanklin is an American conservative political satirist, impressionist, comedian, and conservative speaker...

 recorded a version for The Rush Limbaugh Show

The Rush Limbaugh Show

The Rush Limbaugh Show is an American talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh on Premiere Radio Networks...

called "Where Have All the Conservatives Gone?", blaming the Democratic Party's gains in the United States 2006 midterm elections on a lack of conservatism on the part of elected Republicans.

In 2008, on the eve of the NBA Finals

NBA Finals

The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....

, sports songwriter Ryan Parker did a parody entitled "Where Have All The White Boys Gone?", referring to how the Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...

, who were playing in that year's finals, had a significantly larger number of African-American players when compared to their successful 1980s squads.

In the 2009 Family Guy

Family Guy

Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

episode "Something, Something, Something Dark Side", a spoof of The Empire Strikes Back, the song is used as a form of torture by the Sith on a captured Han Solo

Han Solo

Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...

.

In a 2005 episode of The Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

, "Marge's Son Poisoning

Marge's Son Poisoning

"Marge's Son Poisoning" is the fifth episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons.-Plot:The family is at Paradise Pier, the Ferris wheel of which Marge has been looking forward all her life to riding, only to find out that it is being dismantled with some of its equipment being sold. Homer...

", Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Apu is the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and a friend of Homer Simpson. He is also...

 performs the song in a karaoke

Karaoke

is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...

 competition, switching to the falsetto

Falsetto

Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...

 register for the "do-do-do, do-do-do" break.

In the 2011 Xbox Live Arcade Game Ms. Splosion Man

Ms. Splosion Man

Ms. Splosion Man is an action platform video game developed by Twisted Pixel Games, and was released on Xbox 360 on July 13, 2011. It is the sequel to 's Splosion Man. The game takes place directly after Splosion Man. In the celebration of 'Splosion Man's capture the scientists accidentally create...

, the player controlled character will sometimes sing a line from the song.