At least one reader, Tom A. in Casper, thought I wasn't thorough enough in the "All things U-dub" column last week. Because I failed to give the history of the "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" song, Tom wrote this e-mail:

"Answer Girl -You only gave part of the answer about the song 'Ragtime Cowboy Joe.' It always bothers me when people don't give credit to the actual songwriters. 'Ragtime Cowboy Joe' was written in 1912 by a 'Tin Pan Alley' songwriting trio of Grant Clarke, Lewis Muhr, and Maurice Abrahams. The original Cowboy Joe was Joseph Abrahams, a four-year old nephew of Maurice Abrahams, who liked to dress up in a cowboy suit, and his uncle introduced him to fellow songwriters as "little ragtime-cowboy Joe" whenever they visited. Ragtime was a new rhythmic, syncopated-style of music at that time. Grant Clarke sat up all one night to write the words about an adult ragtime-cowboy Joe. The next morning he got Muir and Abrahams to set it to a melody. Clarke also wrote, "Second Hand Rose" for the Ziegfeld Follies, used later in the Barbra Streisand movie 'Funny Girl.'

"'Ragtime Cowboy Joe' was a big hit in the [early 1900s], and revived later in movies in 1943 by Alice Faye, then again in 1945 by Betty Hutton. It's been recorded by the Sons of the Pioneers, and in our time by Riders in the Sky, who came to Casper earlier this year.

"The first words of the verse are, 'Out in Arizona…' and in the chorus, the words are,'…son-of-a-gun from Arizona, Ragtime Cowboy Joe.' Obviously, UW appropriated the song at some point, and changed Arizona to 'old Wyoming.'

Thanks, Tom. And please excuse my blunder. That was the best an Illinois-born, Wisconsin-grown gal could do.

While we're at it, I may as well expand on what little information was given about equine mascot Cowboy Joe.

According to a college football history Web site, he's a fourth-generation Wyoming mascot, who trots around the stadium after each touchdown.

The tradition of Cowboy Joe the horse (Weird, right? The horse is the cowboy …) began in 1950, when the Farthing family of Cheyenne donated the first Cowboy Joe.

Joe is actually not a horse, by the way. He's a Shetland pony, which is a small but strong breed of pony.

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