When The Bloom Is On The Sage
by Nat Vincent and Fred Howard
"During my
vaudeville days, I played the Pantages Circuit, which
included the cities of Waco, San Antonio, Houston, Fort
Worth, and Dallas. While I was in Fort Worth I was
invited out to see a roundup. I never saw a range or
meadows with more beautiful flowers, and I got the idea
of writing a song about it. In 1926, The Piggy Wiggly
Trio on the Blue Monday Jamboree broke up, and I took
the tenor, Harry Morton, copyrighted the name 'Happy
Chappies' and continued on that fine program. Several
years later, Morton had to return to his home town, and
I did a single until I ran into a very fine entertainer,
Fred Howard. We blended so nicely in harmony that we
soon became the idols of San Francisco. I continued to
write and found that Howard could take my ideas and my
titles and work them out. A big Texan wired the Blur
Monday Jamboree from his hotel offering $250 if we would
write a song and sing it during the program. The program
director put us on at the beginning of the show and gave
us a studio and a piano to see what we could come up
with. Here was my chance to write that song about the
roundup. Before the program was finished, we wrote a
verse and chorus and called it 'When The Bloom Is On The
Sage.' It took off like a cyclone."
—Nat Vincent
When The Bloom Is On The Sage
For most folks, there's a spot that lives forever
Deep down within their fondest memory
Though I have been a rover, I have never
Seen any place where I would rather be.
When it's roundup time in Texas
And the bloom is on the sage
Then I long to be in Texas
Back a-ridin' on the range
Just to smell the bacon fryin'
When it's sizzlin' in the pan
Hear the breakfast horn in the early morn
Drinkin' coffee from a can.
Just a-ridin', rockin', ropin'
Poundin' leather all day long
Just a-swayin', sweatin', swearin'
Listen to a cowhand's song
How it beckons, and I reckon
I would work for any wage
To be free again, just to be again
Where the bloom is on sage.
When it's roundup time in Texas
And the bloom is on the sage
Then I long to be in Texas
Back a-ridin' on the range
Where the purple hills are callin'
Callin' to me from afar
To come back again to the Rio Grande
And the lonely Texas star.
How I'm longin' to be livin'
Where the prairie flowers grow
I'd be willin' to start walkin'
To the land that I love so
How it beckons, and I reckon
I would work for any wage
To be free again, just to be again.
Where the bloom is on the sage.
