Round-up Time is Over

Bob Nolan
Original copyright: March 30, 1940

Hear the cowboys singin’, they’re a-feelin’ mighty gay,
Round-up time is over and their cares are laid away.
So saddle up and into town, there’ll be a jubilee.
I wonder if that blue-eyed gal is waitin’ there for me?

Refrain:
Everything’s lookin’ bright and my heart’s feelin’ right
And the world is mine for roundup time is over.
Every cowboy I know—Curly, Slim, Jack and Joe—
They’re a-feelin’ fine for round-up time is over.

See that little dogie[1] hurry to the fold.
Guess he knows just how I feel
Spirit’s high, a clear blue sky so why should he be told
That ‘way out here a cowboy’s life is real?

Let the sun fill the sky, let the wild coyotes cry.
Everything’s in rhyme for round-up time is over
All the dogies counted and we never lost a stray,
That will make the boss a very happy man today,
See the dogies millin’[2] with a brand new branded hide?
They were born a year ago and that’s why cowboys ride.

[1] stray or motherless calf
[2] Forcing a circular movement of cattle that herds them together in one place.

This lively tune was written for the 1939 Columbia film The Man From Sundown, starring Charles Starrett. Bob Nolan was never a working cowboy but, because the Sons of the Pioneers regularly entertained at rodeos, he was much in their company and learned the lingo. His cowboy songs ring true.

The Sons of the Pioneers did not cut a commercial record of "Round-up Time is Over" but they used it in all their radio transcriptions because of its rollicking rhythm.

The song was registered for copyright on March 30, 1940, and the sheet music was published in Bob Nolan’s Folio of Original Cowboy Classics No. 2, © 1940 by American Music, Inc.

Round-up Time is Over (American Music, Inc.)

SONS OF THE PIONEERS TRANSCRIPTION RECORDINGS

Standard Radio transcriptions, No. 1700 (1934)

Orthacoustic Symphonies of the Sage, transcription (059461)

NBC Thesaurus transcriptions, 1885 Side A MS-059461-D (same as Orthacoustic #3 Side B)

Teleways Radio Productions transcriptions, Nos. 50, 97, and 253

Lucky U Ranch radio shows (courtesy of Larry Hopper)
- Transcriptions disc TR-115/116 (November 26, 1951)
- Transcriptions disc TR-312/313 (April 4, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-469/470 (August 11, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-535/536 (October 27, 1952)

Smokey the Bear radio show, episode No. 11 (1956)