The Camp-fire Has Gone Out
Through progress of the railroads our occupation’s gone;
So we will put ideas into words, our words into a song.
First comes the cowboy; he is pointed for the west;
Of all the pioneers I claim the cowboys are the best;
You will miss him on the round‑up; it’s gone, his merry shout, —
The cowboy has left the country and the camp‑fire has gone out.
There is the freighters, our companions; you’ve got to leave this land;
Can’t drag your loads for nothing through the gumbo and the sand.
The railroads are bound to beat you when you do your level best;
So give it up to the grangers and strike out for the west.
Bid them all adieu and give the merry shout, —
The cowboy has left the country and the camp‑fire has gone out.
When I think of those good old days, my eyes with tears do fill;
When I think of the tin can by the fire and the coyote on the hill.
I’ll tell you, boys, in those days old‑timers stood a show, —
Our pockets full of money, not a sorrow did we know.
But things have changed now; we are poorly clothed and fed.
Our wagons are all broken and our ponies ’most all dead.
Soon we will leave this country; you’ll hear the angels shout,
“Oh, here they come to Heaven, the camp‑fire has gone out.”
(Anonymous/Ben Arnold, c. 1879)
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Progress vs. Tradition
References to barbed wire and railroads represent progress that gradually displaced cowboys. Fences replaced open frontier and machines supplanted labor, forcing traditional cowboys out. -
Land Displacement
The verse about the “cowboy, like the red man, you had to leave your land” underscores how both cowboys and Native Americans lost their heritage-giving lands. It highlights how greed-driven modernization often pushed them aside. -
A Lament & Eulogy
The repeated line “the campfire has gone out” symbolizes the extinguishing of an era. Some see it as both grieving the old life and a peaceful admission that it’s now history—a kind of requiem for vanished traditions. -
Oral Tradition & Revival
Though originally penned in the late 1800s, the poem was set to music in the 20th century and persisted through oral tradition at gatherings and around campfires. Don Edwards recorded it in his 1992 Songs of the Trail album, revitalizing interest in this classic cowboy lament - Here is “The Campfire Has Gone Out” as recorded by Don Edwards, originally a poem by Ben Arnold (1879) that Edwards set to music
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