Home on the Range

Home on the Range – amerykańska piosenka, uznawana za hymn stanu Kansas. Tekst piosenki bazuje na wierszu My Western Home napisanym w latach 70. dziewiętnastego wieku przez Brewstera Higleya. Muzykę do tych słów skomponował przyjaciel Higleya, Daniel Kelley.

Na przestrzeni lat powstały dziesiątki wersji tej piosenki. Jedna z nich, zaaranżowana we wczesnych latach dwudziestego wieku przez teksańskiego kompozytora Davida Guiona, została uznana za piosenkę stanu Kansas 30 czerwca 1947 roku. Z tego też względu często można spotkać w opracowaniach wymienionego Guiona jako kompozytora, co jest oczywiście błędne.

Teksty piosenki

autor: Dr. Brewster Higley (1876)

Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam

Where the Deer and the Antelope play;

Where never is heard a discouraging word,

And the sky is not clouded all day.

Refren

A home! A home!

Where the Deer and the Antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the sky is not clouded all day.

Oh! give me a land where the bright diamond sand

Throws its light from the glittering streams,

Where glideth along the graceful white swan,

Like the maid in her heavenly dreams.

Oh! give me a gale of the Solomon vale,

Where the life streams with buoyancy flow;

On the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever,

Any poisonous herbage doth grow.

How often at night, when the heavens were bright,

With the light of the twinkling stars

Have I stood here amazed, and asked as I gazed,

If their glory exceed that of ours.

I love the wild flowers in this bright land of ours,

I love the wild curlew's shrill scream;

The bluffs and white rocks, and antelope flocks

That graze on the mountains so green.

The air is so pure and the breezes so fine,

The zephyrs so balmy and light,

That I would not exchange my home here to range

Forever in azures so bright.

autorzy: William i Mary Goodwin (1904)

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,

Where the deer and the antelope play;

There seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the sky is not cloudy all day.

Refren

A home, a home

Where the deer and the antelope play,

There seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the sky is not cloudy all day.

Yes, give me the gleam of the

swift mountain stream

And the place where no hurricane blows;

Oh, give me the park where the prairie dogs bark And the mountain all covered with snow.

Oh, give me the hills and the ring of the drills

And the rich silver ore in the ground;

Yes, give me the gulch where the miner can sluice

And the bright, yellow gold can be found.

Oh, give me the mine where the prospectors find

The gold in its own native land;

And the hot springs below where the sick people go

And camp on the banks of the Grande.

Oh, give me the steed and the gun that I need

To shoot game for my own cabin home;

Then give me the camp where the fire is the lamp

And the wild Rocky Mountains to roam.

Yes, give me the home where the prospectors roam

Their business is always alive

In these wild western hills

midst the ring of the drills

Oh, there let me live till I die.

autor: John A. Lomax (1910)

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,

Where the deer and the antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Refren

Home, home on the range,

Where the deer and the antelope play;

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free,

The breezes so balmy and light,

That I would not exchange my home on the range

For all of the cities so bright.

The red man was pressed from this part of the West

He's likely no more to return,

To the banks of Red River where seldom if ever

Their flickering camp-fires burn.

How often at night when the heavens are bright

With the light from the glittering stars

Have I stood here amazed and asked as I gazed

If their glory exceeds that of ours.

Oh, I love these wild flowers

in this dear land of ours

The curlew I love to hear scream,

And I love the white rocks and the antelope flocks

That graze on the mountain-tops green.

Oh, give me a land where the bright diamond sand

Flows leisurely down the stream;

Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along

Like a maid in a heavenly dream.

Ciekawostki

Piosenka została użyta jako motyw przewodni filmu Where The Buffalo Roam (1980)
Często jest określana jako nieoficjalny hymn zachodnich stanów