The West is In My Soul
Bob Nolan
Original copyright: September 30, 1940
Lordy, but I’m feelin’ mighty happy.
Do you wonder why I feel this way?
Everywhere I turn my eyes, the West is.
That is why I’m here to say…
Refrain:
I’m glad I was born in the heart of the west.
The west is in my soul.
I’m glad that I’m livin’ where life’s at its best,
The best old ranges roll.
I’m up with the lark at the break of each dawn,
I ride till the sun turns gold.
In the sky he always was and he always will because
The west is in my soul!
ABOUT THIS SONG
"The West is in My Soul" is one of Bob Nolan's cheerful western songs. Here's how he describes it on a radio transcription:
"There’s music in the west, whether you’re looking at a sunrise over a mountain or a sunset on the desert. There’s music in the rivers and on the prairies at night and out on the open range. Yes, there’s a melody in everything when your heart is in the west." (Bob Nolan, Teleways Transcription #27)
The song was registered for copyright on September 30, 1940.
"The West is in My Soul" was one of the Sons of the Pioneers' most popular radio, stage and movie songs but, other than radio transcriptions, it was never commercially recorded. The first film use was in the Columbia/Charles Starrett picture, Rio Grande (November 4, 1938) and four years later Republic picked it up for a Roy Rogers movie, Sons of the Pioneers (July 2, 1942).
SHEET MUSIC
The sheet music was included in Bob Nolan’s Folio of Original Cowboy Classics No. 2, © 1940, American Music, Inc.
RECORDINGS
SONS OF THE PIONEERS TRANSCRIPTION RECORDINGS
Orthacoustic "Symphonies of the Sage" (059251)
NBC Thesaurus transcriptions, 1926 side A MS-059251-2-E (same as Orthacoustic No.1 Side B)
Teleways Radio Productions transcriptions, Nos. 27, 68, 131, and 247
Lucky U Ranch radio shows (courtesy of Larry Hopper)
- Transcriptions disc TR-182/183 (January 9, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-186/187 (January 10, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-614/615 (December 22, 1952)
Smokey the Bear radio show, episode No. 2 (1956)