How To Yodel: 4 Country & Western Songs to Yodel Along To

So, you want to know how to yodel?

Yodeling is a staple of country music. It is a fascination that can stop people in their tracks when they hear it. Yodeling is a vocal technique where a singer can quickly and smoothly transition from their chest voice to their head voice (falsetto.) The singer uses different vowel sounds to achieve their desired yodel. Many professional singers use this technique to warm up their vocal cords before they perform.

What is Yodeling?

There are many styles of yodeling from different regions of the world. It is believed that yodeling originated in Switzerland and other Alpine countries. It was a technique used by herders to call in their animals or to communicate with other herders.

How to Yodel

If you are interested in learning to yodel, there are many great tutorials on the internet. Or, you can add these songs to your playlist and try to sing along!

"I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart," Patsy Montana & The Prairie Ramblers

I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart
I want to learn to rope and to ride
I want to ride o'er the plains and the desert
Out west of the great divide
I want to hear the coyotes howlin'
While the sun sets in the West
I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart
That's the life that I love best

I want to ride Old Paint, goin' at a run
I wanna feel the wind in my face
A thousand miles from all the city lights
Goin' cowhand's pace
I want to pillow my head near the sleeping herd
While the moon shines down from above
I want to strum my guitar and odo-lay-eee-hee
Oh, that's the life that I love

I want to be a cowboy's sweetheart
I want to learn to rope and to ride
I want to ride o'er the plains and the desert
Out west of the great divide
I want to hear the coyotes howlin'
While the sun sets in the West
I wanna be a cowboy's sweetheart
That's the life that I love best

"Blue," Leann Rimes

Blue
Oh, so lonesome for you
Why can't you be blue over me?

Blue
Oh, so lonesome for you
Tears fill my eyes 'till I can't see

3 o'clock in the mornin, here am I
Sitting here so lonely, so lonesome I could cry

Blue
Oh, so lonesome for you
Why can't you be blue over me?

Now that it's over, I realize
Those weak words you wispered, were nothing but lies
Blue
Oh, so lonesome for you
Why can't you be blue over me?
Why can't you be blue, over me?

"The Yodeling Ranger," Jimmie Rodgers

They call me the yodeling ranger
My badge is solid gold
I rove the land by the Old Rio Grande
And belong to that ranger fold

When we are roving together
Beneath the bright Texas moon
I pillow my head on a desert sand-bed
And yodel this old ranger tune

I sing when I am in danger
Trust in my trigger hand
My heart is light as I ride through the night
I belong to that old ranger band

There's no place where I'm a stranger
And I'm never lonely long
Wherever we are I have my old guitar
And yodel this old ranger song

 

"Cattle Call," Eddy Arnold

 

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