View source for When the Work's All Done This Fall

'''''When the Work's All Done this Fall''''' is a classic [[Western music (North America)|American cowboy song]], written as a poem by [[D. J. O'Malley]] (1867–1943). The work was first published in the ''Miles City Stock-Growers Journal'' in 1893, titled ''After the Roundup'', over the pen name D.J. White.<ref name="CowboyPoetry">{{cite web |url=http://www.cowboypoetry.com/omalley.htm |title=D. J. O'Malley |work=Cowboy Poetry at the Bar-D Ranch |publisher=www.cowboypoetry.com |accessdate=2014-07-05 }}</ref> The lyrics and a melody were first collected from tradition and published by [[John Lomax]] in 1910 in ''Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.''<ref name="CowboySongs">{{cite book |last=Lomax |first1=John A. |title=Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads |url=https://archive.org/details/cowboysongsother00lomauoft |location=New York |publisher=Sturgis & Walton |year=1910 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cowboysongsother00lomauoft/page/53 53] }} </ref>
This poem, like many others of the day, was intended to be sung as lyrics to the melodies of other popular songs.<ref name="BluegrassMessengers">{{cite web |url=http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/carl-t-sprague-.aspx |title=Carl T. Sprague |work=Bluegrass Messengers |publisher=bluegrassmessengers.com |accessdate=2014-07-05 }}</ref>
[[Carl T. Sprague]] recorded ''When the Work's All Done This Fall'' in 1925. It sold over 900,000 copies, at a time when 5,000 was typical for a successful recording. More recently, it has been recorded by artists as diverse as [[Michael Martin Murphey]], [[Marty Robbins]], Kyle Evans, Cowboy Celtic, STAMPEDE!, and Harry Jackson. Many variations of the words appear in the various songs.<ref name="CowboyPoetry" />
Members of the [[Western Writers of America]] chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.<ref name="Top100">{{Cite web|title=The Top 100 Western Songs |author=Western Writers of America |year=2010|authorlink=Western Writers of America |publisher=American Cowboy|url=http://www.americancowboy.com/culture/top-100-western-songs|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019002745/http://americancowboy.com/culture/top-100-western-songs|archivedate=19 October 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Songs about labor]]
[[Category:1893 songs]]
[[Category:1925 singles]]
[[Category:American Songbag songs]]
[[Category:Western music (North America)]]