“Someday Soon” (Judy Collins/Suzy Bogguss)

Your long-lost folkie love song of the day is “Someday Soon.” It was written by legendary folk singer Ian Tyson (of Ian and Sylvia fame) and originally recorded by Ian and his wife Sylvia in 1964. The better-known recording was made by Judy Collins in 1968; that version went to #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 but had a lasting influence that belies is relatively low chart performance.

“Someday Soon” is about a young woman yearning for her lover, a cowboy who travels the rodeo circuit, who her parents really don’t like much at all. Ian Tyson had been a rodeo rider in his youth, which no doubt informed the song. His bronco busting career was cut short when he got injured (tossed from a bucking bronco, one assumes), which led to his getting into the music scene. Here’s what Mr. Tyson said about the song’s inspiration:

 “I don’t know where I got the idea for [writing] a song from a girl’s perspective. I stole the first line of it from an old Stanley Brothers bluegrass song. But I don’t know where I got that plotline.”

Whatever the inspiration, the result was a charming little song with finely hewn lyrics. I particularly like the bit leading into the second chorus:

So blow, you old blue norther
Blow my love to me
He’s ridin’ in tonight from California
He loves his damned old rodeo
As much as he loves me
Someday soon
Goin’ with him someday soon

A blue norther (not a “blue northern”), by the way, is a fast-moving cold front coming in from the north. It’s characterized by a rapid drop in temperature, high winds, and dark blue skies. It’s the sort of storm they get a lot down in Texas, where this song is set.

Judy Collins was a not a songwriter but she was a superb singer of others’ songs. She was a mainstay in the burgeoning New York-based folk movement of the 1960s, playing in clubs like the famous Gerde’s Folk City where all the cool people hung out. Her taste in music was as crystal clear as her voice; she sang and recorded songs by Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and the Beatles. Her most popular recording was a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” which went to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 and won a Grammy for Best Folk Recording.

Some slightly younger listeners, or those into country music, might know the song from Suzy Bogguss’ 1991 recording. I like that version, too; it actually performed better than Ms. Collins’ version, hitting #12 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. It’s remarkably faithful to the earlier recording but with a little more country twang to it, which fits the lyrics.

Ian Tyson passed away just last year, aged 89. His ex-wife Sylvia (they divorced in 1975) survives him; she’s now 82 years old. Judy Collins and Suzy Bogguss are both still alive today, Ms. Collins aged 83 and Ms. Bogguss a relatively youthful 66. If that rodeo cowboy in the song were real, he’d be 81 years old today, having left his bronc-busting days long behind him.