THE SINGING COWBOY:
The "Reel" McCoy
Tim McCoy looks over his ranch, The Eagle’s Nest Courtesy of University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Tim McCoy Collection
It was 1910 in Hot Springs County and the spring roundup had begun. Tim McCoy was a newcomer to the area and had just been hired by Irish Tom, a well-liked local rancher. The young cowboy had joined an eclectic crew consisting of seven men: former outlaws, small time rustlers, hardened cowboys and a college graduate who had just returned home from back East.
C’mon boys, and listen to my tale And I’ll tell ya ‘bout my troubles On the old Chrisholm Trail, Come a ky-yi, yippi-yippi-ay, yippi-ay
The cattle were fresh off the range, half-wild and easily spooked. According to McCoy, if a man rode up quickly to the herd at night and stopped to light a cigarette, the flash of the match might frighten them and they’d be off and gone.
Come a ky-yi, yippi-yippi-ay.
an early guard, the cowboys would stay awake and listen to him sing.
In order to keep the beeves from ‘getting edgy’, the cowboys would take shifts and sing as they rode the night circle. The hope was that the cattle would become comfortable with the sound and less likely to bolt.
His voice also earned him his nickname. “I was sitting around the fire one night at suppertime,” McCoy recalled, “when somebody asked who was on second guard.”
“Cattle,” McCoy explained, “besides being spookable, are also pretty dumb. Let them eat, don’t cause them any bother and they’re fine.” Most of the cowboys sang the only songs they knew but the Texas songs of “Sam Bass” and “Chisholm Trail” quickly grew old. When a chorus of “ky-yi, yippi-yippi-ay” rang out, the cowpunchers reacted by “chapping” the off-key offender. They took off their heavy leather chaps and whaled the poor guy half to death.
“Oh, Ted Price and the Canary,” came the reply from Irish Tom. I looked up and said, “Wait a minute, I’m on guard with Ted Price!”
McCoy learned the lesson quickly and lent his tenor voice instead to the soft, lilting melodies he had heard his parents and their Irish friends singing during his childhood. Sometimes, if he was on
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Tim McCoy, the Actor
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