Origins: Trail to Mexico (Jules Allen)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE TRAIL TO MEXICO (McCauley-Lomax)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 03:12 PM

Lyr. Add: THE TRAIL TO MEXICO
(J. E.McCauley, in Lomax and Lomax, 1938)

1
I made up my mind to change my way,
And quit the crowd that was so gay,
And leave the girl who'd promised her hand,
And head down south of the Rio Grande.
And when I held her in my arms
I know she had ten thousand charms;
She promised that she would be true
And wait for me as lovers do.

Refrain:
I'm going back to Mexico,
Where the longhorn steers and cactus grow,
Where the girls are good day after day
And do not live just for your pay.

2
It was in the year of eighty-three
That A. J. Stinson hired me.
He says, "Young feller, I want you to go
And drive this herd to Mexico."
And when I held her in her arms
I thought she had ten thousand charms;
Her kisses were soft, her lips were sweet,
Saying, "We'll get married next time we meet."

3
The first horse they gave me was an old black
With two big set-fasts on his back;
I padded him with gunny-sacks and my bedding all;
He went up, then down, and I got a fall.
The next they gave me was an old gray-
I'll remember him till my dying day;
And if I had to swear to the fact,
I believe he was worse than the black.

4
Oh, it was early in the year
When I went on trail to drive the steer;
I stood my guard through sleet and snow
While on the trail to Mexico.
Oh, it was a long and toilsome go
As our herd rolled on to Mexico;
With laughter light and the cowboy's song
To Mexico we rolled along.

5
When I arrived in Mexico
I wanted to see my love but could not go;
So I wrote a letter, a letter to my dear,
But not a word from her could I hear.
When I arrived at my native home
I called for the darling of my own;
They said she had married a richer life,
Therefore, wild cowboy, seek another wife.

6
Oh, the girl is married I do adore,
And I cannot stay at home any more;
I'll cut my way to a foreign land
Or I'll go back West to my cowboy band.
I'll go back to the Western land,
I'll hunt up my old cowboy band-
Where the girls are few and the boys are true
And a false-hearted love I never knew.

7
"O Buddie, O Buddie, please stay at home,
Don't be forever on the roam.
There is many a girl more true than I,
So pray don't go where the bullets fly."
"It's curse your gold and your silver too,
Confound a girl that won't prove true;
I'll travel West where the bullets fly,
I'll stay on the trail till the day I die."

Refrain:
I'm going back to Mexico,
Where the longhorn steers and the cactus grow,
Where the girls are good day after day
And do not live just for your pay.

With music score from the Cowboy Band, San Angelo, Texas. Words from J. E. McCauley of Seymour, Texas, who said, "...don't remember when I first heard it and how long I have knew it."
John A. and Alan Lomax, 1938, "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads," Revised and Enlarged, pp. 52-56.
The version bears evidence of cobbling together from several versions and other songs.

David Eiseman, in Western Folklore, v. 44, no. 1 (Jan. 1985), pp. 23-34, in a study of the song, noted influences from several old songs.
He says the versions in Lomax 1918 and 1938 are "heavily edited texts."
(References to the song in Lomax 1910 make the mistake of using the date of the first edition, not of later revised editions with additional songs. In an earlier post, I erred in dating the 1938 revised edition as 1928).

Versions with "I'm going back to Mexico, Where the longhorn steers and cactus grow," suggest that the verse was written after shorthorns became common.
No A. J. Stinson, or the several other names in other versions, has ever been identified and seems to be fictional.

Although several authorities suggest that the song dates back to the 1880s, the evidence consists primarily of similarity of lines in other songs that are attributed to that time.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trail to Mexico (Jules Allen)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:57 AM

Never heard it sung that way, but Scouts sing some odd songs and versions.

Note- The version printed in Fife & Fife from Woody Guthrie MSS is in thread 61371: Early in the spring
The song appeared in print in Lomax, without notes; the version with chorus posted above by Jim Dixon.

In the revised edition of 1928, Lomax and Lomax published a different version, one of thirteen, from J. E. McCauley of Texas (no date), with music from the Cowboy Band, San Angelo, Texas. I will post it later today.
It has a refrain:
I'm going back to Mexico
Where the longhorn steers and cactus grow,
Where the girls are good day after day
And do not live just for your pay.

There seem to be many versions.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trail to Mexico (Jules Allen)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 09:39 AM

I have never heard this song in English but we sang it in the boy scouts this way: Each half line sung by a single singer and then all singers echoing the half line.

Einst machte ich mich auf (Einst machte ich mich auf), eines Morgens frueh (eines Morgens frueh) etc. German lyrics

Is the song sung this way also in America?

Wolfgang

Subject: Lyr Add: THE TRAIL TO MEXICO (from John Lomax)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 08:55 PM

From Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads by John Avery Lomax, 1918, page 132ff:

THE TRAIL TO MEXICO

1. I MADE up my mind to change my way
And quit my crowd that was so gay,
To leave my native home for a while
And to travel west for many a mile.

CHORUS [after each verse]: Whoo-a-whoo-a-whoo-a-whoo.

2. 'Twas all in the merry month of May
When I started for Texas far away.
I left my darling girl behind.
She said her heart was only mine.

3. Oh, it was when I embraced her in my arms
I thought she had ten thousand charms.
Her caresses were soft, her kisses were sweet,
Saying, "We will get married next time we meet."

4. It was in the year of eighty-three
That A. J. Stinson hired me.
He says, "Young fellow, I want you to go
And drive this herd to Mexico."

5. The first horse they gave me was an old black
With two big set-fasts on his back.
I padded him with gunny-sacks and my bedding all.
He went up, then down, and I got a fall.

6. The next they gave me was an old gray.
I'll remember him till my dying day;
And if I had to swear to the fact,
I believe he was worse off than the black.

7. Oh, it was early in the year
When I went on trail to drive the steer.
I stood my guard through sleet and snow
While on the trail to Mexico.

8. Oh, it was a long and lonesome go
As our herd rolled on to Mexico.
With laughter light and the cowboy's song,
To Mexico we rolled along.

9. When I arrived in Mexico,
I wanted to see my love but could not go;
So I wrote a letter, a letter to my dear,
But not a word from her could I hear.

10. When I arrived at the once-loved home,
I called for the darling of my own.
They said she had married a richer life,
Therefore, wild cowboy, seek another wife.

11. Oh, the girl she is married I do adore,
And I cannot stay at home any more.
I'll cut my way to a foreign land
Or I'll go back west to my cowboy band.

12. I'll go back to the Western land.
I'll hunt up my old cowboy band
Where the girls are few and the boys are true
And a false-hearted love I never knew.

13. "O Buddie, O Buddie, please stay at home.
Don't be forever on the roam.
There is many a girl more true than I,
So pray don't go where the bullets fly."

14. "It's curse your gold and your silver too.
God pity a girl that won't prove true.
I'll travel West where the bullets fly.
I'll stay on the trail till the day I die."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jules Allen's Trail to Mexico
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 01:46 PM

No singer who sings a song over many years ever exactly duplicates his lyrics unless he is singing from a text.
What Jules Allen 'actually sings' thus is subject to the conditions and memory of the performer at the time he sings; in this case we have his published lyrics and music which must be taken as definitive.

As Jules Verne wrote in his book, "The songs in the following pages were taken down from my voice just as I sing them, ..."

Discography for Jules Allen may be found in Laird, Tracey E. W., Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary, and: Country Music Sources: A Biblio-Discography of Commercially Recorded traditional Music. (not seen, but available for download in the United States from amazon.com, about $6.00)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jules Allen's Trail to Mexico
From: Roberto
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 12:12 PM

Thank you, Q. That sets the line I was looking for. But for other small differencies, I think what I wrote down is closer to what Jules Allen actually sings. And at a further hearing, I think the name of the boss is "Old A.J. Swinson". Thanks again. R

Subject: Lyr Add: TRAIL TO MEXICO (Jules Allen)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 12:01 PM

From Jules Allen, "Cowboy Lore."

Lyr. Add: TRAIL TO MEXICO
(sung by Jules Verne Allen)

1.
I made up my mind in an early day
That I'd leave my gal she was too gay.
That I'd leave my home and roam for a while,
And travel out West for many a mile.
2.
It was in the year of eighty-three
That A. J. Stinson hired me.
He says, "Young fellow I want you to go
And follow my herd down to Mexico."
3.
Oh, it was early in the year
When I hired out to drive them steers,
I'll tell you boys 'twas a lonesome go
As our herd rolled on to Mexico.
4.
When I arrived in Mexico
I wanted to see my gal but I could not go;
So I wrote a letter to my dear,
But never a word for three years did I hear.
5.
I started back to my haunts of old
I inquired for that gal I adored
They said "Young fella she's wed a richer life,
Therefore cowboy you can seek another wife."
6.
Oh, curse your gold and your silver too,
And curse the gal that can't prove true;
I'm goin' back where the bullets fly,
I'll stay on the cowtrail till I die.
7.
She said, "Buddie, O Buddie, please don't go,
And be forever away from home.
There's lots of girls more true than I,
Please don't go back where the bullets fly."
8.
Yes I know a girl more true than you,
And I know lots of women who can't prove true
So I'm going back to the Rio Grande
And get another job with a cowboy band.

With musical score, 4/4#, pp. 72-73, Jules Verne Allen, 1935, "Cowboy Lore," The Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas.

Some of the history of the song is given in thread 61371: Trail to Mexico

Subject: Lyr Req: Jules Allen's Trail to Mexico
From: Roberto
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 11:19 AM

The Trail to Mexico (Cow Trail to Mexico) as sung by Jules Allen. But the transcription needs a check. Especially the first line in the 5th stanza. Thanks. R

I made up my mind in an early day
That I'd leave my gal that was too gay
I'd leave my native home alone for awhile
And travel out west for many a mile

'Twas in the year of '83
Old A.J. Stinson he hired me
And he said: Young fellow, I want you to go
And follow my herd down to Mexico

It was early in the year
When I hired out to drive them steers
I'll tell you boys, t'was a lonesome go
As the herd rolled on t'wards Mexico

When I arrived in Mexico
I want to see my girl, but I could not go
So I wrote a letter to my dear
But never a word for three years did I hear

Then I started back to my own's old home (?)
Inquired for that girl I adored
They said: Young fellow, she's wed a richer life
Therefore, cowboy, you can seek another wife

O, curse your gold and your silver too
And curse the girl that can't prove true
I'm going back to the Rio Grande
Gonna get another job with a cowboy band

She said: Buddy, oh, buddy, oh please don't go
And be forever away from home
There's lots of girl more true than I
Please don't go back where the bullets fly

Yes, I know a girl more true than you
But I know lots of women that can't prove true
I'm going back where the bullets fly
Gonna live on the cow trail 'til I die