DESCRIPTION:
One of Gene's finest early recordings, of Billy Hill's classic:

THE LAST ROUND-UP

I'm headin' for the last round-up
gonna saddle old Paint for the last time and ride
So long old pal
it's time your tears were dried
I'm headin' for the last round-up...

Git along
little dogies
git a long
git along
git along
little dogies
git along.
Git along
little dogies
git along
git along
git along
little dogies
git along!

I'm headin' for the last round-up
To the far away ranch of the Boss in the sky.
Where the strays are counted and branded
there goes I
I'm headin' for the last round-up.

I'm headin' for the last rouup
gonna saddle old Paint for the last time and ride
So long old pal
it's time your tears were dried
I'm headin' for the last round-up

Git along
little dogies
git a long
git along
git along
little dogies
git along.
Git along
little dogies
git along
git along
git along
little dogies
git along!

I'm headin' for the last round-up
To the far away ranch of the Boss in the sky.
Where the strays are counted and branded
there goes I
I'm headin' for the last round-up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...Billy Hill was so desperate for money, he almost sold his best known song, The Last Round-Up, for just $25. Fortunately ASCAP President Gene Buck thought the song was so good, he loaned him $200 to hold him over until he could find a major publisher and get his song recorded. Hill immediately joined ASCAP. A few years later he testified before a Congressional Hearing Committee in Washington in support of ASCAP. He gave a very emotional testimony how he had survived as a songwriter thanks to the money given to him by Gene Buck.

The Last Round-Up was published by Shapiro & Bernstein in 1933. It became Hills biggest hit and was first recorded by George Olsen and His orchestra, with a vocal by Joe Morrison. The song immediately shot up to No. 1 and stayed there for 9 weeks. Other hit recordings were made by Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, and Guy Lombardo. It was later recorded by The Sons of the Pioneers in 1947, and by Rex Allen, who also had a hit with it in 1955.

In an interview, Lee Hill Taylor told me how this famous western song was written by her father. It seems that while he was working on a ranch in Montana, he asked one of the cowboys why they continued to ride in a round-up when they got older. The cowboy told him there was a time when they had to stop and that would be their last round-up. Right after their brief conversation this cowboy was riding his horse and was accidentally knocked off and trampled to death. Hill never forgot that terrible accident and used it as the basis for his melancholy song.

http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/billyhill.htm