Cowboy Songs in the Key of Life
Take the Interstate 35 and head north out of Austin.
Best do it early in the morning. Just drive; just keep driving …
About five hours later you’ll hit Grayson County. Make for Lake Ray Roberts; then you’ll find it by the shore. It’s not much of a place when you get there. It never really was.
Tioga, Texas is not somewhere many people have heard of, perhaps even less of a place that people want to visit when they arrive in Texas. The whole population totals 803. And according to the United States Census Bureau, the town’s population lives on a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km2), of which, 1.2 square miles (3.1 km2) of it is land and 0.81% is water.
As I say it does appear to be much of place. So, why the five hours drive?
Well, you see on September 29, 1907 a child was born there who would come to epitomize an aspect of Texas life and history. His name was Gene Autry.
This singer, songwriter, actor, musician and rodeo performer gained national fame as a singing cowboy on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. In fact from 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films, and, between 1950 and 1956, hosted The Gene Autry Show television series.
Autry was also one of the most important pioneering figures in the history of country music, considered by many second only in influence to the great Jimmie Rodgers. His singing cowboy films were the first to carry country music to a national audience. In addition to his signature song, “Back in the Saddle Again“, and his hit “At Mail Call Today“, Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, especially his biggest hit “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” as well as “Frosty the Snowman” to name but a few. For during his career Autry made 640 recordings, he wrote or co-wrote 300 songs. His records sold more than 100 million copies. He collected more than a dozen gold and platinum records, including the first record ever certified gold. Perhaps not surprisingly Autry was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Autry may have started out as just a singing cowboy but the man knew how to do business too. By the time he had hung up his saddle – on screen at least – he was or would become the owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.
I’ll come back to this side of the man in a minute but, first, I want to talk about why he was such a success on screen.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Autry personified what was then known as the straight-shooting hero—honest, brave, and true. In so doing, he touched the lives of millions of Americans. So much so, he is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame – for film, television, music, radio, and live performance. Not only that, in 1941, at the height of his fame, they named a whole town in his honor out in Oklahoma. Some day I’d like to visit Gene Autry, Oklahoma.
Perhaps his star has faded somewhat these days, even down here in the Lone Star State, but he was more than a singing star on radio and at the movies back in the days of dirt and depression. He represented for many, especially his young fans, not just a way of life but also a way to live.
What became known as Autry’s Ten Cowboy Commandments began to evolve from his “cowboy-code” mandates talked of during his Melody Ranch radio show dramas. Soon this was being promoted as his Cowboy Code. It was referred to in a 1948 Life magazine feature. Thereafter, fan magazines began to publicize the rules. Essentially these were tenets promoting an ethical, moral, and patriotic lifestyle. In many ways they summed the persona that Autry had perfected on screen.
Take a look.
The Cowboy Code By Gene Autry
The cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
He must always tell the truth.
He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.
He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
He must help people in distress.
He must be a good worker.
He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
He must respect women, parents, and his nation’s laws.
The Cowboy is a patriot.
Out of fashion? Sure.
Out of style? Correct.
Out of date? Maybe…
You must remember one thing though. This was a code of a man who had made millions of dollars through living by it.
It was as if Gene was telling his fans and anyone who would listen, that to make it in this world treat others as you would like to be treated, help those less fortunate than you are, and anyone you might in distress of any kind while you are at it. Love your family, love your neighbors, love your country he told his audience – perhaps, at the end of the day, there is not much more to life than that.
Anyway who would disagree with any of this? Not me.
There is just one more thing I want to tell you about Gene Autry. He left school with not much going for him. His parent’s farm could not provide for the whole family so the young Gene got a job with the local telegraph company. To while away the night shift, when presumably there was not much call for the telegraph, he would play his guitar, sing to himself – or so he thought. His employers heard about his singing and were none too thrilled with the young singer they had not hired. So Autry was fired.
Broke and unemployed, it could have been a set back for Autry. It proved otherwise. In fact one night soon after he was heard singing locally by the then legendary Will Rogers. The rest as they say is history.
Life can some time give you a helping hand, or a helping kick – either way you got to be open to see where that leads. Just think if Autry had pleaded to get his job back in the telegraph office …and got it.
I was glad I came to Tioga. It’s got only a hundred more people living there today than when Autry was born, but no matter. We all know it isn’t about where you start from but, instead, about where you intend to go.
In my case, it’s back down the I35… to await what hand life is going to deal me next …
