When the Prairie Sun Says Good Mornin'

Bob Nolan
Original copyright: April 5, 1938

I’m so happy every day the sun don’t fail.
Happy as the meadowlark, singing down the trail.
Happy thru the day until the sun has gone.
I’ll be happy thru the night for he’ll be back at dawn.

Refrain:
Every day the prairie sun comes over the hill,
Smilin’ in the sky, he says, “Good mornin’.”
From his nest, a sleepy bird is stretchin’ his wings,
Wakin’ to the world that he was born in.
Prairie flow’rs are nodding in the sparkling dew.
Mother Nature doesn’t have to warn ‘em
To cling to the earth that binds ‘em and every day we’ll find ‘em
Waitin’ for the sun to say, “Good morning.”

Why should I be moanin’ when the sun rides high?
He’s the one who showed me why clouds go rollin’ by.
Every day will find me shouting from now on,
“Howdy, Mr. Sun, and how are you a-getting’ on?”

I’ve been feelin’ sorta kinda way down low.
Then the morning brings the sun and then up I go.
Sets my heart a singin’ as I ride along.
Seems the sun is harmonizing with my little song.

Written for the Columbia Charles Starrett film, West of the Santa Fe (October 10, 1938), this song was such a hit with the Sons of the Pioneers' fans that the included it in their 1940 Orthacoustic Symphonies of the Sage radio transcriptions. The song was registered for copyright on April 5, 1938.

In the 7th line of the refrain, Bob uses "binds 'em", probably suggested from his reading of Keats' "a flowery band to bind us to the earth. . ." (Endymion) Read more about the influence of the poets on Bob's writing.

The sheet music was published a year later in Bob Nolan’s Folio of Original Cowboy Classics No. 1, © 1939 by American Music, Inc.

When the Prairie Sun Says Good Mornin' (American Music, Inc.)

SONS OF THE PIONEERS TRANSCRIPTION RECORDINGS

Orthacoustic Symphonies of the Sage, transcription (064381)

Teleways Radio Productions transcriptions, Nos. 34, 104, and 163 (c. 1947-48)

Lucky U Ranch radio shows (courtesy of Larry Hopper)
- Transcriptions disc TR-137/138 (December 10. 1951)
- Transcriptions disc TR-481/482 (August 19, 1952)