Ed Bruce

Here are the lyrics and chords to the iconic song written by our esteemed cousin, Ed Bruce (& his wife Patsy, then popularized by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson).

Chord Notes:  1, 4, 5 with 1-tone step up for 2nd verse

#Ukulele Suggestion:  Start with Bm, Em, F and step up to C, F, G.

[CHORUS]: 

Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys

Don’t let them pick guitars and drive them old trucks

Make ‘em be doctors and lawyers and such

Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys

They’ll never stay home and they’re always alone

Even with someone they love

[VERSE 1]: 

A cowboy ain’t easy to love and he’s harder to hold

And it means more to him to give you a song than silver or gold

Budweiser buckles and soft faded Levi’s and each night begins a new day

If you can’t understand him and he don’t die young

He’ll probably just ride away

[CHORUS]:     

[VERSE 2 (A tone higher)]:

Cowboys like smokey ol’ pool rooms and clear mountain mornings

Little warm puppies and children and girls of the night

Them that don’t know him won’t like him

And them that do sometimes won’t know how to take him

He ain’t wrong, he’s just different but his pride won’t let him

Do things that make you think he’s right

[CHORUS 2x]:

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In our family, the story goes that Grandma Bruce -my father’s mother’s mother- used to say “Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys,” and that was the inspiration for the song.

Here is another telling of the song’s origin I found online, FWIW.

And here is our favorite recording of the song, by Ed Bruce himself (no surprise):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiJmbZazdxk

More to come on this front, especially as my brother and I have now started our own band, woot!