Git Along, Little Dogies

 "Git Along, Little Dogies" is a traditional cowboy ballad, also performed under the title "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo." It is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 827. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

The "dogies" referred to in the song are runty or orphaned calves.

It is believed to be a variation of a traditional Irish ballad about an old man rocking a cradle. The cowboy adaptation is first mentioned in the 1893 journal of Owen Wister, author of The Virginian. Through Wister's influence, the melody and lyrics were first published in 1910 in John Lomax's Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.

Historian Richard White borrowed a line from the song as the title of his 1991 book It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own: A New History of the American West.

The earliest commercial recording of the song was by Harry "Mac" McClintock in 1929 (released on Victor V-40016 as "Get Along, Little Doggies").

Bing Crosby covered the song for his 1959 album How the West Was Won.

The Kingston Trio covered the song for their 1962 album New Frontier.

The Sons of the Pioneers covered the song for their 1990 album Sunset on the Range. 

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy! 

Lyrics:

As I was a-walking one morning for pleasure
I spied a cowpuncher all riding along
His hat was throwed back and his spurs was a-jinglin'
As he approached me, he was singin' this song:

 

(Chorus:)
Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies
It's your misfortune and none of my own
Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies
You know that Wyoming will be your new home

 

Early in the spring, we round up the dogies
Mark 'em and brand 'em and bob off their tails
Drive up our horses, load up the chuck-wagon
Then throw the dogies out on the trail

 

(Chorus) 
It's a-whoopin' and yellin' and a-drivin' them dogies
Oh, how I wish that you would go on
It's a-whoopin' and punchin' and go on little dogies
You know that Wyoming will be your new home

 

(Chorus) 
Some boys goes up on the trail just for pleasure
But that's where they get it most awfully wrong
For you haven't an idea the trouble they give us
While we go driving them all along

 

(Chorus) 
When the night comes, and we hold them on the bed-ground
These little dogies that roll on so slow
Round up the herd and cut out the strays
And roll the little dogies that never rolled before 

(Chorus)

(Chorus)

(repeat last line of Chorus)