home on the range

     

"Home on the Range" is the state song of Kansas. Dr. Brewster M. Higley originally wrote the wors in a poem called "My Western Home." He wrote it in the early 1870s in Smith County, Kansas. The poem was first published in a December 1873 issue of the Smith County Pioneer under the title "Oh, Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam." The music was written by a friend of Higley's named Daniel E. Kelley. Higley's original words are similar to those of the song today but not identical. The song was picked up by settlers, cowboys, and others and spread across the nation in various forms. In the early 20th century, it was arranged by Texas composer David Guion (1892-1981) who is often credited as the composer. It was officially adopted as the state song of Kansas on June 30, 1947, and is commonly regarded as the unofficial anthem of the American West.

Trivia about home on the range

  • (Sarah of the Clue Crew sits upon a white mare on a dude ranch in Montana.) A seldom heard later verse of this song goes:"Oh I love those wild flowers in this dear land of ours"
  • It's the classic American song heard here:
  • With music by Daniel Kelley & words by Brewster Higley, it's Kansas "Home"y style song
  • Ranch style, prairie vu, deer & antelope play in area; sky not cloudy all day
  • Kansas homesteader Bewster Higley's poem "The Western Home" was retitled this when set to music
  • Hopefully this cozy Kansas state song from around 1873 is about a dwelling on open land, not on a stove
  • In this song "seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day"

Found pages about home on the range