"I Wanna Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" is a country and western song written and first recorded in 1935 by Rubye Blevins, who performed as Patsy Montana. It was the first country song by a female artist to sell more than one million copies.[5]
"I Wanna Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" | |
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Song by Patsy Montana Acc. by Prairie Ramblers | |
B-side | "Ridin' Old Paint" |
Written | 1934 |
Published | 1935 Bob Miller, Inc.[1] Universal - On Backstreet Music Inc. 1965 |
Released | November 1935[2] |
Recorded | August 16, 1935[3] |
Studio | ARC Studios, New York City |
Genre | Country (Hillbilly), Western |
Label | Melotone 51156[4] |
Songwriter(s) | Patsy Montana |
Producer(s) | Art Satherley |
Montana wrote the song in 1934 when she was feeling lonely and missing her boyfriend; it was recorded a year later when producer Art Satherley, of ARC Records, needed one more song at a Prairie Ramblers recording session.[6] Montana was the group's soloist at the time. Her song is based on Stuart Hamblen's western song Texas Plains: he is therefore credited as a cowriter. Patsy Montana embellished the simpler musical pattern of the original, especially with her yodeling. Patsy also used a lot of the original words: the song is somewhat of a feminine answer to its precursor.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[7] In 2012 her record was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings.[6][8]
"I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" has been recorded by, among others,
Her song's lively, quick polka tempo and yodeling refrain, and Montana's exuberant delivery, resulted in it being requested at every performance; it became one of the first hits by a female country and western singer.