Don't fence me in!

Fence in a cowgirl, and she'll get the blues. As our correspondent from Texas, Catherine Craft, shows in Spotlight 12/2009, a "cowgirl" can be many things, an artist or a mother, a rancher or a rodeo performer, and in fact anything, if she really puts her mind to it. One of the best "cowgirl" lines is the title of a song written in 1932 by the jazz great Cole Porter, the classic "Don't fence me in". In this video clip it's the soundtrack to a woman steering a plane by herself for the first time:

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don’t fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don’t fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever but I ask you please,
Don’t fence me in.

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies.
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise.

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences
Don’t fence me in.

This week meet dude ranch owner and cowgirl Linda, and do a grammar quiz on me, myself, I, my and own.

Anne Hodgson