“Back in the Saddle Again” was released by Gene Autry in 1939 and is a cowboy themed pop song. The song was written by both Gene Autry and Ray Whitley and was first introduced by Whitley’s band The Six Bar Cowboys for the movie “Border G-Man”. The song highlights the feelings of being “back in the saddle” or reminiscing about doing something you once enjoyed. The lyrics vividly describe the typical day for a cowboy, talking about the cattle they have to herd and the stars they sleep under every night.
Lyrics
I’m back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again
Ridin’ the range once more
Totin’ my old .44
Where you sleep out every night
And the only law is right
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-oh
Rockin’ to and fro
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-yay
I go my way
Back in the saddle again
I’m back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again
Ridin’ the range once more
Totin’ my old .44
Where you sleep out every night
And the only law is right
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-oh
Rockin’ to and fro
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-yay
I go my way
Back in the saddle again
Gene Autry was born in Tioga, TX in 1907 and was raised in both Texas and Oklahoma. As a young boy, Autry worked alongside his father at their cattle ranch, getting his first taste of the “cowboy lifestyle”. Autry however, left this lifestyle behind to pursue stardom. Early in his career he gained the nicknames of “The Singing Cowboy” and “Oklahoma’s Yodeling Cowboy” after becoming known for his appearance on a radio station based out of Oklahoma. Autry’s career was extensive, with him selling over 100 million copies of his music, with “Back in the Saddle Again” being one of his first successful releases.
Aside from his singing career, Autry was known for being a major movie star. He frequented roles that portrayed the “American Cowboy” which contributed to the idea of the ersatz past of Texas that we discussed in class. Unlike other actors who spent their life portraying the American West, like John Wayne, Gene Autry was a true Texan with, for lack of a better term, a “cowboy” past. But in his films, Autry did not paint a true picture of the ranching lifestyle. These movies glamorized the cowboy life, making it seem easier and more achievable to those who had never experienced it for themselves.
Western movies frequently highlight a similar theme: a conquest of the wilderness with a battle of good versus evil. One of Autry’s first movies was In Old Santa Fe where a cowboy loses his horse in a race and is framed for the murder of a stagecoach driver. The battle of good versus evil here is the fight to prove the innocence of the main character “Kentucky”. In this movie and many of his other films, Autry portrays a man who always wears a hat and boots, rides horses everywhere, and is focused on finding the good. This role and many others contributed to the popular imagination of the public about what being a cowboy entails.
The song “Back in the Saddle Again” highlights certain portrayals of the cowboy lifestyle and creates a romanticized version of reality. The song talks about “riding the range” and being surrounded by friends, contributing to the ideology that ranching only entails herding the cattle and being surrounded by friendly faces. The song, along with many of the movies Autry starred in leave out the hardships that the people who live this life faced everyday. The song also talks about the “only law is right” meaning that the one rule a cowboy abides by is dependent on doing the right thing. This is another common theme in the Hollywood version of a cowboy.
Similar to how Gene Autry was able to grow and relate to his past in his career, Jimmie Rodgers was able to do the same. Where Autry portrayed a romanticized version of a cowboy after having had worked on a ranch, Rodgers romanticized working on a train in his music after doing just that. Both men became symbols for a Texan lifestyle by making the hard work seem more appealing. The romanticization of what is now referred to as blue collar work has contributed to the popular image of what the West used to be.
Sources
Brown, Jarad. “Autry, Orvon Gene .” TSHA, Handbook of Texas Online, 21 Nov. 2006, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/autry-orvon-gene.
“Gene Autry – Back in the Saddle Again.” Genius, https://genius.com/Gene-autry-back-in-the-saddle-again-lyrics.
“Gene’s Biography.” GeneAutry.com: Gene Autry: Gene’s Biography, https://www.geneautry.com/geneautry/geneautry_biography.html.
“In Old Santa Fe.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 15 Nov. 1934, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025303/.
“Let Us All Get ‘Back in the Saddle Again’ with This Gene Autry Classic.” Country Thang Daily, 4 Jan. 2022, https://www.countrythangdaily.com/gene-autry-back-in-the-saddle-cowboy/.
