Blue Shadows on the Trail

"Blue Shadows on the Trail" is a song sung in the segment, Pecos Bill, a segment from the 1948 animated Disney film, Melody Time. It is sung during the opening of the final segment and during the aforementioned film's closing. It is sung in a Western-style melody while coyotes howl in the background.
==Background==
The song is heard throughout an evening where the Texan terrain loops into night as the view moves across terrain in a quiet night where viewers hear coyotes howl at night while two owls fly away. The camera then loops into a scene where tumbleweeds hop across a pair of turtles as the tumbleweeds hop across a pair of pronghorns and a pair of prairie dogs. The camera then loops into a family of quails scurrying across the landscape while trying to catch up with the flock as the scene loops into a live-action scene where Roy Rogers and Sons of the Pioneers sing across a couple at a campfire while desert animals observe the couple at night where the song ends. It is sung again at the end of the film where Pecos Bill lost his love interest Slue-Foot Sue and howls with the coyotes at night, back to where Pecos was originally raised at as a baby.
==Lyrics==
<tabber>
First=
Shades of night are fallin'
As the wind begins to sigh
And the world is silhouetted 'gainst the sky
(whistle)
Blue shadows on the trail
Blue moon shining through the trees
And a plaintive wail from the distance
(coyotes howl)
Comes a-driftin' on the evenin' breeze
Move along,
Blue shadows,
Move along,
Soon the dawn will come,
And you'll be on your way
But until the darkness sheds its veil
There'll be blue shadows on the trail
(instrumental)
Move along, (Move along)
Blue shadows,
Move along, (Move along, move along, move along)
Soon the dawn will come
And you'll be on your way (On your way)
But until the darkness sheds its veil
There'll be blue shadows on the trail
Shadows on the trail
(coyotes howl)
|-|Reprise=
(spoken)
So painful was his grief to see, the varmints joined in out of sympathy.
And that's how come to this very day, coyotes howl at the moon that way.
Move along, (Move along)
Blue shadows,
Move along, (Move along, move along, move along)
Soon the dawn will come
And you'll be on your way (On your way)
But until the darkness sheds its veil
There'll be blue shadows on the trail
Shadows on the trail
(coyote howls)
</tabber>
==Trivia==
*This song was chosen by the Western Writers of America’s as one of the top 100 Western Songs of all time.
Category:Melody Time Songs
Category:Reprise
Category:Closing songs