"The Last Round-Up" (Gene Autry, 1933)

One of Gene's finest early recordings, of Billy Hill's classic:

THE LAST ROUND-UP

I'm headin' for the last round-up
gonna saddle old Paint for the last time and ride
So long old pal
it's time your tears were dried
I'm headin' for the last round-up...

Git along
little dogies
git a long
git along
git along
little dogies
git along.
Git along
little dogies
git along
git along
git along
little dogies
git along!

I'm headin' for the last round-up
To the far away ranch of the Boss in the sky.
Where the strays are counted and branded
there goes I
I'm headin' for the last round-up.

I'm headin' for the last rouup
gonna saddle old Paint for the last time and ride
So long old pal
it's time your tears were dried
I'm headin' for the last round-up

Git along
little dogies
git a long
git along
git along
little dogies
git along.
Git along
little dogies
git along
git along
git along
little dogies
git along!

I'm headin' for the last round-up
To the far away ranch of the Boss in the sky.
Where the strays are counted and branded
there goes I
I'm headin' for the last round-up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...Billy Hill was so desperate for money, he almost sold his best known song, The Last Round-Up, for just $25. Fortunately ASCAP President Gene Buck thought the song was so good, he loaned him $200 to hold him over until he could find a major publisher and get his song recorded. Hill immediately joined ASCAP. A few years later he testified before a Congressional Hearing Committee in Washington in support of ASCAP. He gave a very emotional testimony how he had survived as a songwriter thanks to the money given to him by Gene Buck.

The Last Round-Up was published by Shapiro & Bernstein in 1933. It became Hills biggest hit and was first recorded by George Olsen and His orchestra, with a vocal by Joe Morrison. The song immediately shot up to No. 1 and stayed there for 9 weeks. Other hit recordings were made by Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, and Guy Lombardo. It was later recorded by The Sons of the Pioneers in 1947, and by Rex Allen, who also had a hit with it in 1955.

In an interview, Lee Hill Taylor told me how this famous western song was written by her father. It seems that while he was working on a ranch in Montana, he asked one of the cowboys why they continued to ride in a round-up when they got older. The cowboy told him there was a time when they had to stop and that would be their last round-up. Right after their brief conversation this cowboy was riding his horse and was accidentally knocked off and trampled to death. Hill never forgot that terrible accident and used it as the basis for his melancholy song.

http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/billyhill.htm

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Gene
• Autry
• 1933
• headin'
• heading
• for
• the
• last
• round
• up
• round-up
• roundup
• Billy
• Hill

[WeirdMaRy91]

i loved this in Public Enemies, with Johnny singing =) =)

it's not fair it's not in the soundtrack actually !!!!

[Imalong]

i think this is a very good song for it's age i think a 76 year old piece of music is better than any R'N'B song(r'n'b sucks and rock'n'roll and this is awesome)

[UntilWeMeetAgainVic]

@HAMMEREDucation Wow, you're fucking stupid. Not only do you fail to realize that John Dillinger was a piece of shit, you don't understand the proper usage of "your" and "you're." None of those guys are heroes nor did any of them "change the World." Slap your parents in the face for me, they raised a fucking retard!

[HAMMEREDucation]

@UntilWeMeetAgainVic Your a Piece of shit. He changed the World. He is a 'Hero' Like Billy the Kidd, Pretty boy Floyd, Capone, And Baby face Nelson.

[UntilWeMeetAgainVic]

@yesiamawizardjonny People did die from Dillinger's actions so yeah, he was a piece of shit.

[UntilWeMeetAgainVic]

Great tune. I wish Ranger Doug would dial this one up from time to time.

[ksmccaw]

@TheMastaN1

Ha ha yep! John Dillinger was awesome!

[CocacolaCowboy1919]

@yesiamawizardjonny Stealing from banks is wrong. The peoples money. If it is insured, it is stealing from the govt, which is tax dollars which is the peoples money. Stealing from the people is not my hero.

[bgdspaint]

@johnnydeppmap1963 lol me 2

[yesiamawizardjonny]

@johnnydeppmap1963 No he sucks at this song.

[nikeaholic]

@TheMastaN1

me lol

[yesiamawizardjonny]

John Dillinger will always be a national hero. No matter how much the FBI tries to slander his name. The fact is, he stole from corrupt banks but never killed a man in his life. The public loved him. Dillinger was murdered.