Appendix E: Home on the Range

Suggested Citation: Kerr, Andy. 2000. Oregon Desert Guide: 70 Hikes. Seattle: The Mountaineers Books. p. 254.

by Andy Kerr

While this popular folk song is associated with cowboys, it does not contain a single reference to domestic livestock. Instead, it extols the natural richness of the western range, mentioning a number of species now in decline. Perhaps conservationists will reclaim this folk song, sing it in camp, and teach it to their children.

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,

Where the deer and the antelope play;

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the shies are not cloudy all day.

CHORUS:
Home, home on the range,

Where the deer and the antelope play.

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the shies are not cloudy all day.

Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free;

The breezes so balmy and light;

That I would not exchange my home on the range,

For all of the cities so bright.

 

How often at night when the heavens are bright,

With the light from the glittering stars;

Have I stood here amazed and asked as I gazed,

If their glory exceeds that of ours.

 

Oh, I love these wildflowers in this dear land of ours,

The curlew I love to hear scream.

And I love the white rocks and the antelope flocks,

That graze on the mountain tops green.

 

Oh give me a land where the bright diamond sand,

Flows leisurely down the stream,

Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along,

Like a maid in a heavenly dream.

 

Yes, give me the gleam of the swift mountain stream,

And the place where no hurricane blows,

Oh give me the park where the prairie dogs bark,

And the mountains all covered with snow.

Then I would not exchange my home on the range,

Where the deer and the antelope play;

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the shies are not cloudy all day.

 

In the honored folk tradition, the author penned a new last verse, which is hereby granted to the public domain:

Oh it will not be long 'til the livestock are gone,

And the bighorn range without fear,

When the native biotic will retake the exotic,

And the streams again will run clear.