Welcome to my entry devoted to “The Cowboy Song” originally sung by Tom Hanks in the movie Joe vs. the Volcano. Here you will find my version of the song, as well as the chords and lyrics and a little bit of information. (If you want an MP3s of Tom Hanks singing this, sorry, I can’t help you there.) However, if you just want information about the song or you’re looking for the lyrics and/or tabs, keep reading.

This is the song that made me want to learn ukulele in the first place. When my wife was pregnant with our two kids I decided that I wanted to be able to play and sing this to them, so I bought a cheap ukulele and started teaching myself chord changes and strumming patterns. Before too long, I was playing “The Cowboy Song” as well as writing my own songs.

The song was written by John Patrick Shanley for the film. I contacted Mr. Shanley and asked him if I could cover the song on my upcoming children’s album, and he graciously agreed (thanks, John!). So here’s my take on the song. I figured that when Joe is singing this in the movie he’s singing a song he’d heard somewhere before, so I tried to imagine what that ‘original’ song would have sounded like. This is what I came up with:

I’ll be releasing this on the forthcoming album “Ukulele Jim and His Jumping Flea Circus” in Summer of 2010 (it’ll be available here) (you can join my mailing list to be notified when it’s available).

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Okay, that’s it for my shameless self-promotion. Now how do you play it?

There are only two chords in this song. In the movie, I think Tom Hanks plays F and C, but I also think his ukulele is tuned differently than GCEA. I play them as G and D7 which is a little better for my singing range. Pick whatever voicing works for you.

The complete lyrics of the song are as below. The part in italics were in the screenplay but not in the film.

Ee he o he-o cowboy
Ee he o he-o oooo
Ee he o he-o cowboy, cowboy, cowboy
Under the moon.

I was ridin’ my horse
by the Rio Grandee
and all o’ them coyotes singing
in a prairie symphony.

I was ridin’ my horse
down by the Rio Grandee
when I seen me a cowboy, cowboy, cowboy,
ridin’ toward me.

Ee he o he-o cowboy
Ee he o he-o oooo
Ee he o he-o cowboy, cowboy, cowboy
Under the moon

He was twirling his guns
And he had a guitar
And we sang us up a sweet old
song about love
Under the stars

Ee he o he-o cowboy
Ee he o he-o oooo
Ee he o he-o cowboy, cowboy, cowboy
Under the moon

Giddyup!

I hope you found this information helpful, and I hope you enjoyed my version of the song. Please leave some feedback in the comments section below. Why did you visit this page today? What were you looking for, and did you find it? Do you play the ukulele? I’d love to hear from you!

Giddyap!