Little Joe the Wrangler is a classic American cowboy song, written by N. Howard "Jack" Thorp. It appeared in Thorp's 1908 ''Songs of the Cowboys'', which was the first published collection of cowboy songs.Thorp, N. (1921) ''Songs of the Cowboys'', p. 96.: "'Little Joe, The Wrangler', by N. Howard Thorp. Written by me on the trail of herd of O Cattle from Chimney Lake,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, to Higgins,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, 1898. ... It was

copyrighted A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

and appeared in my first edition of ''Songs of the Cowboys'', published in 1908. Members of the

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include historian ...

chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. The song is about a solitary orphan who is taken in by a group of cowboys and put to work at a man's job. Little Joe's life ends tragically when his horse suffers a fall during a

stampede A stampede () is a situation in which a group of large animals suddenly start running in the same direction, especially because they are excited or frightened. Non-human species associated with stampede behavior include zebras, cattle, elephants ...

, crushing the young fellow beneath him. The song has been sung over and over in cow camps for over a century, and has been recorded by many Western singers.

References

1908 songs Songs about occupations Songs about children Songs about death {{1900s-song-stub