Happy Trails — HR Song of the Week

I don’t remember exactly when I first heard Happy Trails, but I do remember that it was while watching The Roy Rogers Show. Dale Evans is often given credit for the song, though that’s not quite right. But let’s not quibble about that. Roy and Dale sang the song while the credits rolled at the end of the show. For those of us who watched a lot of Roy and Dale, this song provides a strong memory.

The reason I bring this up is that I’m not sure we’ve had a Song of the Week dealing with retirement or a voluntary long break from work. People do still retire and take long breaks, and some of them have trouble with it. Work has been life for a long time. Waking up without work to do is difficult. And then some folks handle it with no trouble at all. They substitute something for work or find that they enjoy doing nothing.

If I had to pick a retirement song, it would be: “Happy trails to you, until we meet again . . . . Keep smiling until then . . . . Some trails are happy ones, Others are blue. It’s the way you ride the trail that counts, Here’s a happy one for you.” It acknowledges that separation is occurring but holds out the hope of reconnecting at some point in the future.

I like the Rogers/Evans version, but I wanted to make this a little different, so here’s Van Halen.