You Don't Kno'
What Lonesome Is
(
'Till You Get to Herdin'
Cows )
Do me Ah Ma doo, Do me Ah
Ma day!
All alone . . . all alone!
When the hoot owl toots his tooloo
to
the wail of the nip wick hen,
and the chink funk chirps in the chilly night,
it's mighty lonesome then . . .
And it's mighty lonesome when the
wind,
howls thru the jack-pine boughs
but you don't kno' what lonesome is,
'till
you get to herdin' cows . . .
Do me Ah Ma doo, Do me Ah
Ma day!
All alone . . . all alone!
Oh, the ordinary fella,
gets off on a
Saturday night
an' he gets a chance to see his pals
which ain't no more
than right
but when the saddle is your life
there's no time to carouse
and
you don't kno' what lonesome is,
'till you get to herdin' cows . . .
Do me Ah
Ma doo, Do me Ah Ma day!
By myself . . . by myself!
Now,
the keeper of the lighthouse
an' the sailor man at sea
an' the lookout on
the mountain top
ain't got a thing on me
'cause I got all the lonesomeness
that the common law
allows
Man, you don't kno' what lonesome is,
'till you get to herdin' cows . . .
Do me Ah Ma doo, Do me Ah Ma
day!
Cowboy
blues . . . cowboy blues!
Now, you may often wonder
why a cowpoke
sings so sad
he's a thinkin' of the many things
in life he's never had
no
pal, no gal for company
jus' the cattle as they browse
man, you don't kno' what lonesome is,
'till you get to herdin' cows . . .
Do me Ah Ma doo, Do me Ah Ma
day!
All
alone . . . by myself!
Cowboy
blues . . . doggone cow!
Doggone
COW!
Doggone you, you licked me again!
Words and Music by
Foster Carling
and
Country
Washburne