A Cowboy's Lament

This song was written to be used as part of the musical revue, Lighten Up (Music K-8, Volume 12, Number 1). Naturally, you can use it any way you want to. And you can certainly omit it from the revue if it's not of use to you.

Pick a student to play the cowboy who is able to sing as well as act. Since the most humor will come from his ability to ham it up, this is important. Add a cowboy hat, some chaps, spurs, blue jeans, and a vest and/or flannel shirt. Make the costume "normal-looking," or perhaps you'd rather exaggerate a bit. An oversized hat is always cute.

A student or two in a horse costume would also be funny. But if you don't happen to have one, just have your cowboy "ride" in on a toy horse. One of those heads on a pole works. You can have the horse's sound effects come from behind or beside him by someone who is out of view of the audience. Or you could leave those effects out.

Our cowboy on the CD (Abby Wey again - isn't she amazing?) was simply marvelous. She managed to make us believe she really was saddle sore. Her ad libbed groans at the end were also a stitch. Be sure you let your students listen to her for reference (not to mention entertainment).

Also let your students listen to the tracks for other fun touches. See if they can identify the "westernish" sounds, such as the harmonica, the whistle, and the horse hooves.

And oh yeah - don't forget the pillow for the very end. So to speak.