An Indiana woman is puzzled about a phrase in the old western song, “I Ride An Old Paint”: “I’m goin’ to Montana to throw the houlihan.” What’s a houlihan? You’ll find one version of the lyrics here. Here are different interpretations of this cowboy classic by Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “I Ride An Old Paint”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Patricia Claflin in Carmel, Indiana.
Hi, Patricia. Welcome to the program.
Thank you.
I have a question about a cowboy song that I remember as a child back in the 1930s. I used to love it. I used to sing along. And I heard it again recently on Prairie Home Companion. And I still have this question.
What does it mean when they said, we’re riding to Montana to throw the hoolahan? And I wondered, what was the hula hand, and where were they throwing it, and could you only do it in Montana?
How did the song go?
I can’t sing it.
Oh, come now. It’s just the three of us. Something about, I don’t know, get along little doggies or something, and that was the line. And I used to sing along then. I don’t remember the words anymore.
Get me Garrison on the phone. Let’s have him sing it for us.
They actually played it two weeks ago, and I was reminded that I wondered what that meant.
All right.
Do you have any idea?
Well, I’m interested that you say Houlihan, because when I’ve heard it sung, like the magnificent version that Johnny Cash does or Woody Guthrie, they say Houlihan.
How does that go, Martha?
I knew you were going to… Somebody’s going to sing for me.
Okay, well, I’ll just go here to YouTube, and I’ll get Johnny to sing it for us. How about that?
That would be great.
We’ll link to that on the website.
Well, maybe it was Houlihan.
Houlihan.
As a child, I thought it was Houlihan.
Yeah, well, that’s how it’s spelled. It looks that way, H-O-U-L-I-H-A-N.
Okay.
And I can tell you that a Houlihan, or a Houlihan, is simply a kind of roping technique. It’s a real simple, efficient kind of toss of the rope.
Of course.
Yeah, it makes sense, right?
Yeah.
I wonder why they were looking forward to that.
Why they were looking forward to that.
Well, the other thing to say about that is that Throw the Houlihan became, or Houlihan, however you pronounce it, became an expression that meant to have a rip-roaring good time, paint the town red. But in this song, the one you’re talking about, about old paint and rope and cattle and all that, I don’t think of it as a boisterous song.
Do you?
The way you sang it, did it seem boisterous?
Not really. It just seemed mysterious.
Yeah, mysterious.
Well, I tell you what, Patricia, how about if we link on our website, waywordradio.org, to a couple of these versions of the song, Johnny Cash and maybe Woody Guthrie.
Well, that would be fun.
It’s a sweet song.
It is.
Don’t you think?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, thank you for answering that question that I’ve had for 75 years.
75 years?
Yes.
Wow.
Well, here’s to another 75 years. Call us then with your new question, all right?
I’ll do that.
Thank you, Patricia.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Yeah, Grant, we didn’t even mention the name of that song.
It’s I Ride in Old Paint.
Oh, nice.
We’ll link to that song and the lyrics on our website. You can find us at waywordradio.org.
If you’ve got a question about language, slang, grammar, usage, pronunciation, or something funny someone once said to you, give us a call, 1-877-929-9673, or send it an email to words@waywordradio.org.
