When Pay
Day Rolls Around
(Bob Nolan)
I’m dressing up in style for in a little while
I’m gonna ride into town
And every cowboy pal I know will lift his heel and toe
When pay day rolls around.
And so I’m feelin’ fine because there’s lots of time
Until we’re all homeward bound
To work and slave with cattle, sweat and swear and battle
Until pay day rolls around.
What does a cowboy do when all of his work is thru?
Just what I’m going do now.
With money to spend and jingle, off into town to mingle
With all my friends, I allow.
And maybe a blue-eyed gal will wait for her bronco pal
To ride o’er the hot desert ground.
True heart and golden hair know that I’ll soon be there
When pay day rolls around.
I’m dressing up in style for in a little while
I’m gonna ride ......
And so I’m feelin’ fine because there’s lots of time
Until we’re all homeward bound
To work and slave with cattle, sweat and swear and battle
Until pay day rolls around.
Click here to listen to the
full song
When Bob Nolan wrote the lively "When Pay Day Rolls Around" for the Columbia picture, "South of Arizona", it became one of his most popular songs and was recorded by a majority of western singers in the 1940s and 50s. It is still being recorded today. It was also featured in the first Sons of the Pioneers movie with Roy Rogers in 1941, Republic Pictures' "Red River Valley". Following, for comparison purposes, are a number of recordings of this song made by the Sons of the Pioneers. The recording you are listening to is from "Red River Valley".
Photocopies of sheet music for this song are available from Calin Coburn, Bob Nolan's grandson. Email Calin for more details.
♫ 1938 South of Arizona soundtrack
♫ 1939 Sunshine Ranch program
♫ 1942 Red River Valley soundtrack
♫ 1940 Orthacoustic transcription
♫ 1950 Smokey the Bear
♫ 1953 Lucky U Ranch
♫ 1976 Granite
Bob Nolan’s Folio of Original Cowboy
Classics No. 1, © 1939 by AMERICAN MUSIC, INC.
CALIN COBURN COLLECTION IMAGE: Volume 2, #188.