Here, Blue

Bob Nolan
Original copyright: Undetermined

In the early 1930s, the Sons of the Pioneers were appearing on several programs a day on KFWB radio under their own name and as Farley's Gold Star Rangers. To avoid repetition, Bob and Tim were kept busy writing new songs so each program was fresh. They knew that the public was hungry for songs.

“You see, all the hillbilly and cowboy singing groups, they spent most of their time talking, you know, instead of singing. We did nothing but sing. Segue from one tune to another. We did more singing in 15 minutes than any other groups did in an hour at that time. And people would tune us in and freeze. Everything would stop and they’d listen from the time we come on the air until we were through. No eating dinner. If you ate at 7 o’clock, you changed to 7:15 when we got through.” (Bob Nolan Jan. 12, 1972)

We have included Bob's re-write of a folk tune, "Old Blue" or "Old Dog Blue" to demonstrate his ability to create lyrics to pad their repertoire when they didn't know all the words of the original.

Bob always owned a dog and usually called it by the same name, "Sir Tumbleweed". This copy was found in the effects of an old friend of Nolan, in a collection of memorabilia which included several of Bob's songs in his own hand. Hundreds of Bob Nolan's songs were lost in a garage fire so we are constantly on the lookout for bits and pieces he left with friends. He wrote on whatever paper was handy when the spirit moved him - and left them behind. He also had his friends copy them out for him because he was embarrassed about his poor spelling. This lyric sheet was found in a collection of Bob Nolan compositions and ephemera of Frances Shepp Irvine Longstreet, one of his close friends who also wrote an article about him.

"Here, Blue" was never recorded by the Sons of the Pioneers, never registered for copyright. It is likely that the Pioneers used the original melody of "Old Blue".

We do not have any sheet music for this song.