The Home Corral

Bob Nolan
Original copyright: May 05, 1936

Sometimes when on night herd I'm riding
And the stars are a-gleam in the sky
Like millions of wee little candles
That glimmer and sparkle on high.
I wonder if up there among them
Are streets that are shining with gold.
And if it's as pretty a country
As all the sky pilots have told.

And sometimes I wander and wonder
If over that lone Great Divide
I'll meet with my pals who have journeyed
Across to that dim, farther side.
If out on the great starry ranges
Someday in the future, I, too,
Shall ride on a heavenly bronco
When earth's final round-up is through.

They tell us no storms nor blizzards
Blow over that blue, scattered range.
That it's always and always like summer
A land where there's never a change.
At nights when I lie in my blanket
And the star world casts o'er me its spell
I seem to look on the glories
That lie in that great home corral.

See recordings section below.

We do not have any sheet music for this song.

"Home Corral", sung here by Patsy Montana, was one of Bob's earliest songs and was not yet protected by copyright when Patsy recorded it. Many thanks to OJ Sikes for finding the song for us.

"Bluebird was a subsidiary of RCA and as a subsidiary they would record in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and with field equipment could, and did, record in smaller communities. As to her recording the song in 1933, despite the 1936 copyright, in 1933 Bob's songs weren't yet being published. When Cross & Winge began publishing song folios in 1936 they began copyrighting unpublished songs that had been written earlier."
(Laurence Zwisohn)

"The recording was made in Chicago (flip side is “Homesick for My Old Cabin”) along with “Montana Plains and Waltz of the Hills.” It was copyright May 05, 1936 in Cross and Winge sheet music and a later copyright for additional material February 16, 1938. The copyright was renewed March 17, 1965. Most artists had to travel to the recording centers of New York, Camden, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Patsy (Rubye) was in Chicago at that particular time, but she recorded in Camden in 1932 and New York in 1935. The song was never published in any of the Sons of the Pioneers' five songbooks."
(Lawrence Hopper)