Slumber Time on the Range
Bob Nolan
Original copyright: March 16, 1946
Renewed copyright: March 18, 1963
Slumber time across the plains
And soon the world will be in slumber bound.
Silently the night has spread
The starlit woven blanket on the ground.
Now the campfire flame is fading—
See the embers fading, too.
They know it’s slumber time across the plains
And now it’s slumber time for me and you.
ABOUT THIS SONG
Bob Nolan used his plaintive little song in the Columbia picture, Rio Grande (1938) and a 21-year-old Lloyd Perryman sings it with incredible sweetness and tenderness. Over sixty years later, Suze Spencer Marshall (relative of Tim Spencer) was enchanted by the piece and invited the Riders in the Sky to record it for her Tall Boots (2005) album. Woody Paul takes the solo. It was originally registered for copyright on March 16, 1946 and renewed on March 18, 1963.