Song of the Bandit
Bob Nolan
Original copyright: October 9, 1937
Long, long ago in old Wyoming lived a maid,
Fair as the sweetest flower bloomin’ in the glade.
She loved a bandit bold who roamed the prairie o’er
And every night she’d listen for his call.
Then, far to the west, his voice came ringin’,
Ridin’ a wild horse, he came singin’…
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee, yip I o lee aye!”
He brings a token to his love.
Swift as the wind he goes
High in the hills he knows she’s waiting singing,
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
One day he rode away but never to return.
Danger was waiting now, his love must never yearn.
Long days and lonely nights she waited all in vain
Till winter passed and summer came again.
Still every night when the moon came shining,
For his song her heart was pining…
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee, yip I o lee aye!”
He brings a token to his love.
Swift as the wind he goes
High in the hills he knows she’s waiting singing,
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
One night an angel brought a message from her love.
Told her he waited in the starlight sky above.
Softly, she closed her eyes and bade the angels go
And then the whole world echoed to his song
For straight down a moonbeam he came riding,
Out of the sky on a winged horse gliding…
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee, yip I o lee aye!”
He brings a token to his love.
Swift as the wind he goes
High in the hills he knows she’s waiting singing,
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
“Hee lee o lee yip I o lee aye!”
ABOUT THIS SONG
Introduced to the public in the 1937 Columbia / Charles Starrett film, Outlaws of the Prairie, "Song of the Bandit" is still one of Bob Nolan's most popular songs. Bob describes it this way:
"From the days of Robin Hood, we’ve all been interested in romantic outlaws. The west had its share of Robin Hoods, too, and one of these struck my imagination. The result – the wild, yodeling melody of The Song of the Bandit. I had read an old English poem called “The Highwayman”. It was very impressive to me so I turned it into a western atmosphere and it’s almost word for word. Marty Robbins said that is his favorite, too, and that it inspired him to write 'El Paso'.”
SHEET MUSIC
The song was registered for copyright on October 9, 1937, and sheet music was included in Bob Nolan’s Folio of Original Cowboy Classics No. 1, © 1939 by American Music, Inc.
RECORDINGS
“The Song of the Bandit” proved such an audience pleaser that the Sons of the Pioneers recorded it for Columbia in 1937 and again in 1963. They included it most of their radio transcriptions.
SONS OF THE PIONEERS TRANSCRIPTION RECORDINGS
Orthacoustic Symphonies of the Sage, transcription (064353)
NBC Thesaurus transcriptions, 2081 side B K7-MM-6320-M
110-2-4 Ranch radio show, No. 214 (May 31, 1943) (03)
Teleways Radio Productions transcriptions, Nos. 28, 60, 116, 192, and 228 (c. 1947-48)
Lucky U Ranch radio shows (courtesy of Larry Hopper)
- Transcriptions disc TR-75/76 (November 7, 1951)
- Transcriptions disc TR-148/149 (December 17, 1951)
- Transcriptions disc TR-220/221 (January 31, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-278/279 (March 12, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-401/402 (March 6, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-531/532 (October 23, 1952)
Smokey the Bear radio shows, episode No. 1 (1956), episode No. 3 (1958)