"Cowboy Take Me Away" | ||||
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Single by Dixie Chicks | ||||
from the album Fly | ||||
B-side | "Goodbye Earl" | |||
Released | November 8, 1999 | |||
Recorded | 1999 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 4:47 (album version) 3:55 (radio version) | |||
Label | Monument | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | ||||
Dixie Chicks singles chronology | ||||
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"Cowboy Take Me Away" is a song by American country music group Dixie Chicks, written by Martie Maguire and Marcus Hummon. It was released in November 1999 as the second single from their album Fly . The song's title is derived from a famous slogan 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.
Driven by co-writer Martie Seidel's fiddle, Emily Robison's banjo, and Natalie Maines' vocals, "Cowboy Take Me Away" quickly became one of the trio's signature songs. Maines was praised for a "sincere" vocal that escaped the clichés of "Nashville music-factory tearjerkers". [1] "Cowboy Take Me Away" has become a staple of the Chicks' concert set lists, appearing from the Fly Tour onwards.
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 in 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.'" [2]
Peak positions
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA) [8] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | November 8, 1999 | Country radio | Monument | [9] |
Martha Elenor Maguire is an American musician who is a founding member of the country band the Chicks and the country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in national fiddle championships while still a teenager. Maguire is accomplished on several other instruments, including the mandolin, viola, double bass and guitar. She has written and co-written a number of the band's songs, some of which have become chart-topping hits. She also contributes her skills in vocal harmony and backing vocals, as well as orchestrating string arrangements for the band.
Emily Burns Strayer is an American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and a founding member of the country band the Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks. Strayer plays banjo, dobro, guitar, lap steel, bass, mandolin, accordion, fiddle, piano, and sitar. Initially in her career with the Chicks, she limited her singing to harmony with backing vocals, but within her role in the Court Yard Hounds, she took on the role of lead vocalist.
Natalie Louise Maines is an American musician. She is the lead vocalist for the country band the Chicks.
Wide Open Spaces is the fourth studio album and the major label debut of American country music band Dixie Chicks. It was their first record with new lead vocalist Natalie Maines, and became their breakthrough commercial success. It received diamond status by the RIAA on February 20, 2003, in the United States, having shipped 13 million units worldwide, while spending more than six years in the Australian ARIA music charts Country Top 20.
Fly is the fifth studio album by American country music band the Dixie Chicks, released on August 31, 1999 through Monument Records. Compared to their previous album and breakthrough Wide Open Spaces (1998), the group had a stronger hand in writing, co-writing five of the fourteen tracks. The album was produced by Blake Chancey and Paul Worley, both of whom had already produced Wide Open Spaces.
Taking the Long Way is the seventh studio album by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released on May 23, 2006, through Columbia Nashville, it was also the group's last album released under the “Dixie Chicks” name. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold over 2.5 million copies in the U.S., being certified 2× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 11, 2007. It won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year in February 2007.
The Chicks are an American country music band composed of Natalie Maines, along with Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire, who are sisters. Their discography comprises eight studio albums, two live albums and 28 singles.
"Goodbye Earl" is a country murder ballad written by Dennis Linde. Initially recorded by the band Sons of the Desert for an unreleased album in the late 1990s, the song gained fame when it was recorded by Dixie Chicks on their fifth studio album, Fly. After charting from unsolicited airplay in late 1999, the song was released as that album's third single in 2000, peaking at #13 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. The CD single includes a 'B-Side' cover of "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette. In 2021, it was listed at No. 469 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".
The Accidents & Accusations World Tour was a concert tour by the Dixie Chicks. It was their first tour where tickets were sold after the scandal which ensued in 2003 when lead singer Natalie Maines publicly criticized President George W. Bush at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London during the Top of the World Tour, leading to intense criticism of the group. The tour was named after the lyrics in the song "Easy Silence" from the album Taking the Long Way, released in May 2006.
"Not Ready to Make Nice" is a song co-written and performed by American country music trio Dixie Chicks. It was released on March 20, 2006, as the first single from the band's seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way. The Dixie Chicks wrote the song in response to the backlash they experienced in 2003 after criticizing President George W. Bush.
"I Hope" is a country–pop song written and performed by the American all-female trio Dixie Chicks for their seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way, in 2006.
The Chicks are an American country band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer. Maguire and Strayer, both née Erwin, founded the band in 1989, with bassist Laura Lynch and vocalist and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy. They performed bluegrass and country music, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits and small venues for six years without attracting a major label. In 1992, Lynch replaced Macy as the lead vocalist.
"Without You" is a song written by Eric Silver and Natalie Maines, and recorded by American country music group Dixie Chicks. It was released in August 2000 as the fifth single from their album Fly. In January 2001, it hit number one on the U.S. country singles chart. It also reached number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"There's Your Trouble" is a song written by Mark Selby and Tia Sillers and recorded by American country music band Dixie Chicks. It was released in March 1998 as the second single from the band's fourth studio album, Wide Open Spaces (1998), and peaked at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The following year, the song was released in the United Kingdom and became the band's highest-charting single there when it peaked at No. 26.
"Wide Open Spaces" is a song written by Susan Gibson and recorded by the American country music group Dixie Chicks. It was released in August 1998 as the third single and title track from the band's album Wide Open Spaces. The song hit number one on the U.S. Country singles chart and spent four weeks there in November 1998. It also placed to number 41 on the U.S. Pop singles chart.
"You Were Mine" is a song recorded by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released in December 1998 as the fourth single from the album Wide Open Spaces, the song spent two weeks atop the U.S. Country singles chart in March 1999; that same month, it reached #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped Canada's country music chart for a week.
"I Can Love You Better" is a song written by Pamela Brown Hayes and Kostas and recorded by American country music group the Dixie Chicks. It was the first single released by the group to feature Natalie Maines following their former lead vocalist Laura Lynch's departure from the group in 1995. The song premiered to country radio on October 27, 1997, as the group's debut single from their fourth studio album and major label debut Wide Open Spaces (1998).
"Ready to Run" is a song by American country music group Dixie Chicks. It was co-written by the group's fiddler, Martie Seidel along with Marcus Hummon. It was released in June 1999 as the lead-off single from the band's fifth studio album, Fly (1999), and became their sixth entry on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, reaching number two. This song was included on the film soundtrack for Runaway Bride, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.
Court Yard Hounds were an American country music and folk duo, founded by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer. They, along with Natalie Maines, make up The Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks. The sisters decided to record a side project under a different name. Court Yard Hounds, featuring Strayer for the first time as lead vocalist, released a debut album for Columbia Records, the same label for which the Dixie Chicks has recorded, on May 4, 2010. The album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart, initially selling 61,000 copies. It has sold approximately 825,000 copies in the United States.
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