Home on the Range

, late 19th century In 1871, Higley moved from Indiana and acquired land in Smith County, Kansas under the Homestead Act, living in a small cabin near West Beaver Creek. Higley was inspired by his surroundings and wrote "My Western Home", which was published in the Smith County Pioneer (KS) newspaper in 1873 and republished March 21, 1874 in The Kirwin Chief. Higley's original lyrics are similar to those of the modern version of the song, but not identical. For instance, the original poem did not contain the words "on the range". In 1925, Texas composer David W. Guion (1892–1981) arranged it as sheet music that was published by G. Schirmer. The song has since gone by a number of names, the most common being "Home on the Range" and "Western Home". It was officially adopted as the state song of Kansas on June 30, 1947, and is commonly regarded as the unofficial anthem of the American West. On September 27, 1933, Bing Crosby recorded "Home on the Range" with Lennie Hayton and his orchestra for Brunswick Records. At the time, the origins of "Home on the Range" were obscure and widely debated, although it had been published in 1910 in folklorist John Lomax's Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. The lawsuit initiated a search for the song's background. As it turned out, controversy and even outright plagiarism have followed the song's lyrics since their publication. On Feb. 26, 1876, the Kirwin Chief published an article on the front page titled, "PLAGIARISM," accusing The Stockton News of publishing a nearly identical poem credited to a Mrs. Emma Race of Raceburgh, KS. The Kirwin Chief, which had published the poem Mar. 26, 1874, reprinted the poem below the article. When Samuel Moanfeldt investigated the history of "Home on the Range" on behalf of the Music Publishers Protection Association in response to the Goodwins' 1934 lawsuit, he found another, similar song, "Colorado Home". However, within a few months, Moanfeldt determined Higley had written the poem behind "Home on the Range", and set to music by Kelley. It seemed likely that cowboys on the Chisholm Trail played a role in making the song known throughout several states. ==Modern usage==

Bing Crosby recorded the song again in 1938 and 1939. Frank Sinatra also recorded the song on March 10, 1946, and his version was released in Great Britain but was not available in the United States until 1993. Others who have recorded the song include John Charles Thomas, Connie Francis, Gene Autry, Boxcar Willie, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Johnnie Ray, Slim Whitman, Steve Lawrence and Tori Amos. "Home on the Range" is often performed in programs and concerts of American patriotic music and is frequently used in plays and films. The song is also the theme opening music for the early Western films starring Ray "Crash" Corrigan and his two co-stars in their movie roles as "The Three Mesqueteers". The song’s most famous use is probably as the theme to the 1950s TV series, The Range Rider. It is also featured in the 1937 screwball comedy The Awful Truth (sung by Irene Dunne and Ralph Bellamy), the 1948 film Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (sung by both Cary Grant and Myrna Loy), the 1967 off-Broadway musical ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (sung by the cast as a glee club rehearsal number), the 1980 film Where the Buffalo Roam (sung by Neil Young over the opening credits), the 2009 film The Messenger (sung by Willie Nelson over the closing credits), and the 1946 western film Colorado Serenade (sung by actor Roscoe Ates). Actor Harry Dean Stanton (as the angel "Gideon") sings an excerpt from his mid-tree perch in the 1985 film One Magic Christmas as well as in the 1988 David Lynch short film, The Cowboy and the Frenchman. A parody version is sung by villainous poacher Percival McLeach in the 1990 animated film The Rescuers Down Under'', where he alters the lyrics to describe his skinning of animals. The song has made its way into screen shorts for children and adults, as in the 1954 Looney Tunes cartoon Claws for Alarm, where it is sung by Porky Pig. Likewise, Bugs Bunny sings the song in both The Fair-Haired Hare (1951) and Oily Hare (1952), the latter containing original lyrics specific to Texas oilmen. The song is used in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Substitute" (1991) in which Lisa is inspired by a substitute teacher who dresses as a cowboy and sings the song with commentary. It was also used on the Shining Time Station episode "A Dog's Life." It made an appearance on GLOW when Debbie Eagan (played by Betty Gilpin) sang a portion in the fourth episode of the second season. Vikingarna recorded an instrumental version of the song on the 1981 album Kramgoa låtar 9 , entitled "Home on the Ranch". An instrumental version of the song was used in the 2011 video game, Rage. In 2016, the American progressive rock band Kansas released a version of the song as a bonus track on their album The Prelude Implicit. In 2017, a docudrama was released that told the story of the song's origins and the lawsuit from the 1930s that finally concluded the authorship of the song. The film was produced by the People's Heartland Foundation and Lone Chimney Films and featured actors Buck Taylor, Rance Howard, Darby Hinton, and the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs, Mitch Holthus. The film also included music contributed by Kansas, Sons of the Pioneers, Michael Martin Murphey, and others. The film was directed by Ken Spurgeon and aired on regional PBS stations. In 2020, the American show Better Call Saul referenced the song when Kevin Wachtell, played by Rex Linn depicted the western lifestyle behind his father's bank, Mesa Verde In 2024, Filipino actor Derrick Monasterio released a version of the song as a track on their album Pulang Araw: Official Soundtrack. ==Major versions compared==

See Mecham (1949) for a discussion of differences in lyrics amongst sources as well as definitions of terms. ==In popular culture==

The first and sixth verses of John A. Lomax's 1910 version, "A Home on the Range", are heard in the "Glee Club Rehearsal" sequence of the Broadway musical ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown''. The well-known first verse and chorus are covered in a season four episode of Wizards of Waverly Place. The first verse was also covered in an episode of another Disney Channel sitcom, Good Luck Charlie, at the end of the episode "The Break Up". An arrangement of the song is included in most Casio electronic keyboards. In The Wacky World of Tex Avery, an animated series only very loosely connected to the famous cartoonist Fred "Tex" Avery, an instrumental version is used as the theme to the segment featuring an animated cowboy character also named "Tex Avery". ==Explanatory notes==