My Pony Boy

From 1909 comes a lighthearted, iconic song of the West by Bobby Heath and Charley O'Donnell. It was incorporated into the Broadway musical Miss Innocence and has been used in many western movies as well.

We've created this 3-part arrangement with a traditional cowboy honky-tonk style for your older groups. You'll even hear galloping temple blocks in the chorus. The key to a successful vocal presentation is the exaggeration of the "swing" and a major emphasis on the accented words. You can hear this treatment in our audio demo. It gives it the excitement and Broadway sound it needs.

The tricky parts to this song are the tempo changes. Slow to fast into the choruses are easy enough as you follow the new tempo in the pick-up notes leading into the chorus. But going back into verse two starts right at the tempo change. If you listen to the recording a few times you'll start to feel it naturally. So play the accompaniment by itself for your choir. They'll get it.

We sang the notes for the word "whoa" at the end of each chorus. You may choose to shout that word if you find it to be more effective. Just be sure to keep the energy up throughout.

On our web site, you will find a unison version of the recording, in case that's better for your purposes. You will also find rehearsal tracks for parts 2 and 3.