Under Western Skies: Top-20 Cowboy Songs

American history is full of cowboys and the cowboy was actually something present in many countries at one time. For Americans, cowboys became heroes in the '40s and '50s and young boys played Cowboys and Indians pretending to be the hero with the gun and a trusty horse. Cowboy popularity has also been a part of country music. True life cowboys have been singing country for decades. Here is a list of the best of those classic country cowboy songs. The songs are ranked according to their highest Billboard chart position.

1. El Paso (No. 1, 1959): Marty Robbins. Marty was one of the greatest country singers of all time. He recorded a great cowboy song with El Paso. The song is the story of a gunfighter. He falls in love with a Mexican beauty. The cowboy life takes over and eventually he is taken down in a gunfight. Story songs have long been part of country music and cowboy story songs seem to have a more special place in the hearts of fans.

2. The Cattle Call (No. 1, 1955): Eddy Arnold. This is a song written and recorded in 1934 by songwriter and musician Tex Owens. It became a signature song for Eddy Arnold. Tex recorded it in 1936. The song was recorded by Tex Ritter (1947) and Slim Whitman (1954). Whitman's version peaked at No. 11 on the Country & Western Best Seller chart. In 1955, Eddy Arnold recorded his version of the song, which went to No. 1 on the country chart.

3. Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys (No. 1, 1978): Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. The title of the song says it all. Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys was a plea from the great Willie and Waylon to all the women out there to not let their kids grow up to be wild, restless and a little crazy. The song became a huge hit for the duo and it carried their stardom to new heights. Still today people look back fondly at this song. There is just something about cowboys that people both love and hate. The lifestyle of working hard and earning a living out in the wild open mixed with the restlessness and leaving has an allure to it that makes us all wish we could live like that.

4. El Paso City (No. 1, 1976): Marty Robbins. El Paso City is a 1976 single written and recorded by Marty Robbins. El Paso City was Robbins' fifteenth number one on the Billboard country singles chart.

5. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (No. 1, 1980): Willie Nelson sang about cowboys in his slow kind of fashion when he put together the song My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys. In the song Willie describes all the unique things that make him love the thought of being a cowboy.

6. Don't Call Him A Cowboy (No. 1, 1985): Conway Twitty. Conway was a country legend who could sing any kind of song. Conway had 40 No. 1 hits. His cowboy song was directed to women as a warning that there are quite a few guys that like to dress up and play cowboy while there are still only the true few that actually live the life and can love a woman like a cowboy.

7. The Yellow Rose (No. 1, 1984): Artists Johnny Lee and Lane Brody recorded a song called The Yellow Rose. This song, which retained the original melody of The Yellow Rose of Texas, but with new lyrics, was used as the title theme to a TV series also entitled The Yellow Rose and was a No. 1 country hit that year.

8. Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold) (No. 1, 1985): Dan Seals. One might not think of this song when they think cowboy songs, but it sure fits all the criteria. Dan Seals was a pop star in the '70s before he was a country star in the '80s. One of his biggest hits was Everything That Glitters. The song is about a guy and his daughter. They have to make due on their own because the woman in their lives has left for the life on the rodeo.

9. Cross the Brazos At Waco (No. 2, 1964): Billy Walker. In 1962, Walker topped the chart with Charlie's Shoes, the only No. 1 single of his career. His smooth tenor was well-suited to other western-inspired hits including Matamoros and Cross the Brazos at Waco. Nicknamed The Tall Texan, Walker had more than 30 charted records during a nearly 60-year career.

10. What The Cowgirls Do (No. 2, 1994): Vince Gill. Vince cranked up the steel guitars and the electric guitars for his rousing song. The song is upbeat, catchy and a tribute to all the great cowgirls out there. For as long as their have cowboys there have been girls to keep them company. Even if the cowboys would leave for life on the range there were always new cowgirls waiting in the next town. But don't feel too bad for those girls. They have done a little leaving of their own over the years as well. Getting down and having fun isn't just a cowboy thing. It's what the cowgirls do.

Under Western Skies: Top-20 Cowboy Songs, Part 2

American history is full of cowboys and the cowboy was actually something present in many countries at one time. For Americans, cowboys became heroes in the '40s and '50s and young boys played Cowboys and Indians pretending to be the hero with the gun and a trusty horse. Cowboy popularity has also been a part of country music. True life cowboys have been singing country for decades. Here is a list of the best of those classic country cowboy songs. The songs are ranked according to their highest Billboard chart position.

11. New San Antonio Rose (No. 3, 1944): Bob Wills. The King of W
estern Swing's all-time best-seller is also a great example of his particular genius. When Waco's Playboys recorded San Antonio Rose as an instrumental, in 1938, country fiddle and steel took the leads. When Wills added lyrics and cut the new version nearly two years later, he kept nothing but the original, traditional melody; the song was all reeds and brass, like any other big-band swing record of the day. The music was upbeat and happy.

12. Wildfire (No. 3, 1974): Michael Martin Murphy. Murphy will forever be remembered as the great country singer that recorded everybody's favorite song about a horse -- Wildfire. The song has that haunted kind of feeling. It fits the story of the song well as the narrator sings about a horse called Wildfire and his lost woman.

13. Cool Water (No. 4, 1947): Sons of the Pioneers. The Sons of the Pioneers was a cowboy singing group founded in 1933 by Roy Rogers, Tim Spencer, and Bob Nolan. They were joined by Hugh Farr (fiddle/bass vocals) in 1934, Karl Farr (guitar) in 1935, and Lloyd Perryman (vocals) in 1936. Cool Water is a song written in 1936 by Bob Nolan. It is about a man and his mule, Dan and a mirage in the desert.

14. Amarillo By Morning (No. 4, 1983): George Strait. George turned Amarillo by Morning into a top ten hit back in the early days of his career. The spiffiest of modern Texas swing/honky-tonk singers is known for his love songs. But this 1982 rodeo ballad puts you right there in the pickup truck, next to the broken-down cowboy pushing on to the next county fair competition.This song is true cowboy all the way through.

15. The Cowboy Rides Away (No. 5, 1985): George Strait: This is a great cowboy song that George often uses to ride out of stadiums as the final goodbye to his loving fans. The song uses an iconic image from life and screen of a cowboy riding away after settling a score or saving a town. In the song George sings about a cowboy that loses the love of his life. As things get settled down and the two finally realize it's all over he knows this is where the cowboy rides away.

16. Big Iron (No. 5, 1960): Marty Robbins. A country ballad by Robbins originally released as an album track on Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in September 1959, then as a single in February 1960. It tells the story of an unnamed Arizona Ranger's duel with an outlaw named Texas Red in the town of Agua Fria, Arizona. The town predicts the death of the ranger, but he kills Texas Red with the "swiftness" of the big iron on his hip.

17. Stampede (No. 8, 1950): Roy Rogers. Roy was a singer and cowboy actor, as well as the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants chain. He and his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino Trigger and his German Shepherd dog, Bullet, were featured in more than 100 movies and The Roy Rogers Show. Stampede was xx top-10 singles.

18. Ghost Riders In the Sky (No. 2, 1979): Johnny Cash had a voice like no other. His deep gravely growl could tell a story that made everybody pay attention. With the song Johnny captured the attention of every cowboy fan around. The song has all the classic cowboy images and the beat even reminds you of a horses trot. Any song that sings about horses snorting fire and the devil makes for one of the greatest cowboy songs of all time.

19. The Hanging Tree (No. 15, 959): Marty Robbins. This is a western ballad from the 1959 movie The Hanging Tree. It was written by Mack David and Jerry Livingston who received nominations for the Laurel Awards and the Academy Awards in 1960. The text is a short reference to the film's story. It was also released on the reissue of the album Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (1959) by Marty Robbins who performed this song in the opening credits of this film.

20. High Noon (1952): Tex Ritter. High Noon is a 1952 western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself. The screenplay was written by Carl Foreman.