Cottage in the Clouds

Bob Nolan/Lloyd Perryman
Original copyright: March 16, 1939

Summer time has come, the lazy day’s begun
And the golden sun is gleaming.
In the clouds I’ve planned to build a cottage grand
But, of course, I’m only dreaming.

Refrain:
Day dreams, spending the hours in far away dreams.
Up in the sky I found a stray dream—
Making believe I built a cottage in the clouds for you, dear.
All of my love goes with it, too, dear.
Heaven is waiting in the blue, dear,
There in the garden of my cottage in the clouds.

Some folks build such tall dreams of castles shiny new.
This is such a small dream, why can’t it come true?

Just let the wind beside us
Blow us across the sky and guide us
Up to the open door and hide us,
There in the shelter of my cottage in the clouds

Bob Nolan's and Lloyd Perryman's "Cottage in the Clouds" was used in The Colorado Trail in 1938 and the sheet music appeared in Bob Nolan’s Folio of Original Cowboy Classics No. 1 © 1939 by American Music, Inc. Lloyd Perryman had a hand in it; whether the idea was his or part of the melody is not known now. Lloyd was responsible for arranging the songs and Bob often said that only Lloyd knew exactly how he wanted them performed. In his introduction to the song on Teleways Radio Productions transcription N. 90 this is how Bob described its origin:

“A friend of mine has written a fantasy on the little imaginary people that live on the top of clouds. They’re just like fairies, he said, except they live in the air so they call themselves aires. Now, it’s the aires that make the clouds into funny-looking things that look like elephants and kittens and dogs just to amuse little boys and girls. That’s for children, of course, but for the grownups, I think the aires build things, too—build things like this—a cottage in the clouds.”

The "aires", pronounced "air-ies", were pre-Columbian dwarf-like spirits or survivors of pagan rain gods. Some were malicious spirits but Bob’s "aires" were benevolent, of course.

“Cottage in the Clouds” was registered for copyright on March 16, 1939, as part of Bob Nolan’s Folio of Original Cowboy Classics No. 1 © 1939 by American Music, Inc.

Cottage in the Clouds (American Music, Inc.)

The song had been used on the Orthacoustic Symphonies of the Sage radio transcriptions, later on the Teleways Radio Productions transcriptions and live on the Lucky U Ranch radio show. The song was not commercially recorded until 1966 in The Sons of the Pioneers Sing the Songs of Bob Nolan (LPM/LSP 3554), an outstanding collection of Bob's songs.

SONS OF THE PIONEERS TRANSCRIPTION RECORDINGS

Orthacoustic Symphonies of the Sage (059251)

NBC Thesaurus transcriptions, disc 1926 side A MS-059251-2-B (same as Orthacoustic No. 1 side B)

Teleways Radio Productions transcription No. 90

Lucky U Ranch radio show (courtesy of Larry Hopper)
- Transcription disc TR-188/189 (January 11, 1952)
- Transcription disc TR-369/370 (May 15, 1952)
- Transcription disc TR-565/566 (November 17, 1952)