"Cowboy Take Me Away" is a song by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

group

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Stra ...

, written by Martie Maguire and

Marcus Hummon Marcus Spencer Hummon (born December 28, 1960) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Notable songs written or co-written by Hummon include " Ready to Run" and " Cowboy Take Me Away", recorded by The Chicks; "Born to Fly", recorded by S ...

. It was released in November 1999 as the second single from their album '' Fly''. The song's title is derived from a famous

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan or a political, commercial, religious, or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group ...

used in commercials for Calgon bath and beauty products. It reached number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart in February 2000.

Content

Driven by co-writer Martie Seidel's

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

, Emily Robison's

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, and Natalie Maines' vocals, "Cowboy Take Me Away" quickly became one of the trio's

signature song A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or styliz ...

s. Maines was praised for a "sincere" vocal that escaped the clichés of "Nashville music-factory tearjerkers".Dixie Chicks: Fly
"Cowboy Take Me Away" has become a staple of the Chicks' concert set lists, appearing from the

Fly Tour The ''Fly Tour'' (2000) was the debut North American concert tour by country music band Dixie Chicks, The Chicks' (formerly the Dixie Chicks), performing sold-out shows in over 80 cities across Canada and the contiguous United States. The tour w ...

onwards.

Music video

The first scene of the music video for "Cowboy Take Me Away" shows a car stopping on a busy street, with Robison's high hot pink cowboy boot splashing through a puddle, and Maines waiting in a crowded elevator until reaching the top floor of an empty industrial-looking loft, joining the other two Chicks. The three begin singing the song and playing their instruments up there at the building-top in the center of a large city which appears to be Los Angeles. Gradually, the scene around them begins to slowly melt (via various CGI backdrops) of forest floors and snow-covered mountains and the like appear, while the trio dance and sing. The city does not ever disappear entirely, but the point is made. The filming captured them at the height of their early days, when all three women had hair either naturally or dyed blonde. Looking back, Robison commented, "You have three girls, so automatically you get the roll-the-eyes, you know; it's the band that's been put together," Robison says. "And at the time we were all blonde. And, you know, it was just so – it was so packageable. You know, it was just so easy for people to say, 'Oh, this is something manufactured.'"

Chart performance

Peak positions

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control Songs about cowboys and cowgirls 1999 singles The Chicks songs Songs written by Marcus Hummon Song recordings produced by Paul Worley Songs written by Martie Maguire Monument Records singles Song recordings produced by Blake Chancey 1999 songs