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Songs for cattle
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Subject: Songs sung to cattle From: Emma B Date: 12 Dec 07 - 05:11 AM One of those kind of inter continental conversations in mudchat last night rangeing (no pun intended) from the cowboy lullabies for "jittery cows" to the milking songs of The Hebrides. The Old Chisholm Trail I'm up in the momin' afore daylight And afore I sleep the moon shines bright. No chaps and no slicker, and it's pouring down rain, And I swear, by God, that I'll never night-herd again. Oh, it's bacon and beans most every day I'd as soon be a-eatin' prairie hay. I went to the boss to draw my roll, He had it figured out I was nine dollars in the hole. I'll sell my horse and I'll sell my saddle; You can go to hell with your longhhorn cattle. A Bhólagan, a bhó chiuin - Bólagan, gentle cow 'S iomadh buaile, bó gun laogh Cha déid dhachaigh, bó gun laogh Théid air chreachaibh, bó gun laogh Leum i 'n garadh, bó gun laogh "Many a fold", is the calfless cow "Won't go home", is the calfless cow "Goes a-reiving", is the calfless cow "Leapt the dyke", is the calfless cow Any others? |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: rich-joy Date: 12 Dec 07 - 05:15 AM I seem to recall Frankie Armstrong singing a croon that was from a woman to her cow that had just lost it's calf ..... And then there's her famous version of the "wordless" "Cattle Call" - that's on one of her recordings! Cheers, R-J |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: John MacKenzie Date: 12 Dec 07 - 05:25 AM Part 6 3rd& 4th pictures, this shows how it should be done. G. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,PMB Date: 12 Dec 07 - 05:30 AM Andy's Gone With Cattle, Aussie poem by Henry Lawson- I don't know who put the tune to this, the one closely related to The Recruited Collier. Bonnie at Morn mentions them. Any number of Border reiver songs. I suppose the cow in an Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo is incidental. When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire- not really ABOUT a cow. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Emma B Date: 12 Dec 07 - 05:44 AM Henry Lawson's lovely poem is included in The Penguin Australian Song Book to the tune I think PMB is referring to above, but it's really a song about the folks left behind during a cattle drive. We were thinking more of the songs sung to cattle; now just what is Charmion singing to "soothe the savage beast" ? :) |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,Henryp Date: 12 Dec 07 - 06:38 AM There's the Night Herding Song by Harry Stephens which was adapted by Woody Guthrie; : : Lay down, little dogies, lay down. : : We've both got to sleep on this cold, cold ground. : : The wind's blowin' colder and the sun's goin' down. : : So lay yourselves down, little dogies, lay down. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,fogie Date: 12 Dec 07 - 07:07 AM Sweet baby James Battlefield Band's song including come Geordie lead the pony for the path is steep and stony and we're three long weeks from the isle of Skye and the beasts are thin and bony -it's about a fair they're going to in Scotland I cant remember the towns name The elf call Spotted cow Rawhide? Ghost Riders in the sky? |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,fogie Date: 12 Dec 07 - 07:09 AM its..... the trysting fair at Falkirk if my memory serves me |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Sugwash Date: 12 Dec 07 - 07:30 AM The Goodnight/Loving Trail is my favourite cow-poking song. Little White Bull is my least favourite bovine ballad. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Jack Campin Date: 12 Dec 07 - 07:36 AM The most amazing ones are the Norwegian "kulnings" - google for them (links from Karin Rehnqvist's site). In Scots Gaelic, "Druimonn dubh" (often "Drimmendoo" in early sources) which seems to be very ancient (a lament related to some cattle-based religious tradition) and "Colin's Cattle" (which aslo has several different supernatural traditions associated with it, which suggests its real meaning was lost centuries ago). The tune for "Druimonn dubh" is a bit like "Git along little dogies", which might make the latter the oldest song in European-American folk tradition. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Emma B Date: 12 Dec 07 - 07:44 AM kulning link here |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Emma B Date: 12 Dec 07 - 07:48 AM ooops sorry - here too Listen to Emma Härdelin on this page |
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Subject: Lyr Add: GIT ALONG LITTLE DOGIES From: GUEST,Henryp Date: 12 Dec 07 - 10:20 AM Git Along, Little Dogies must have cheered the cattle along the Goodnight Trail to Cheyenne. Your mother she was raised way down in Texas, Where the jimson weed and sand-burrs grow; Now we'll fix you up on prickly pear and cholla Till you're ready for the trail to Idaho. Whoopee ti yi yo, git along, little dogies, It's your misfortune, and none of my own. Whoopee ti yi yo, git along, little dogies, For you know Wyoming will be your new home. Oh, you'll be beef for Uncle Sam's injuns, "It's beef, heap beef," I hear them cry. Git along, git along, git along-a, little dogies, You're gonna be beef steers by and by. Whoopee ti yi yo, git along, little dogies, It's your misfortune, and none of my own. Whoopee ti yi yo, git along, little dogies, For you know Wyoming will be your new home. From American Ballads and Folk Songs, Lomax. Recorded by Harry Jackson, Cisco Houston, The Weavers and, more recently, Nickel Creek. Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition! |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 12 Dec 07 - 10:55 AM When the Work's All Done Next Fall Stampede! Little Joe the Wrangler Hold That Critter Down Following the Cow Trail |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Jack Campin Date: 12 Dec 07 - 10:57 AM Now you remind me of the whole thing, the resemblance I thought I saw has just evaporated... |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: sian, west wales Date: 12 Dec 07 - 11:26 AM Oxen were used for ploughing in Wales - particularly Glamorganshire - for years after most other places in Britain had gone over to horsepower. The antiquarian, Cadrawd, wrote in the 1880s that "superstition credited him (the ox) with a kind of occult intelligence, something like that which is attributed to bees." Because of this, farmers believed that you HAD to keep the beasts amused while they worked, and they hired in lads to walk backwards in front of the oxen and to sing to them the whole time they were working. And you couldn't sing just any old rubbish: they had to be verses of wit, wisdom, love and/or riddles. Many of them were written on a poetic measure referred to as a 'triban' because they made three points; i.e. Tri pheth sy'n hawdd i'w 'nabod: Dyn, derwen, a'r diwrnod. Y dydd yn troi, y pren yn gou, A'r dyn yn ddauwynebog. (Three things are easy to understand: (Man, oak tree, and a day. (The day turns, the wood is solid, (And the man is two-faced.) Because it was so important for the oxen to be happy, these boys - knowns as cathreiwyr (sing.: cathreiwr) - were actually auditioned at hiring fairs, and hired based on how many verses and tunes they knew and could perform. Hundreds of these verses have been collected and a lot of trad songs popular today are actually from this 'body' of poetry and music. sian |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Jack Campin Date: 12 Dec 07 - 12:39 PM This is interesting: http://zhuhai.expat9.com/article/only-one-cow-song-singer-left Googling for "cow herding song" gets an amazing YouTube video of the Swedish band Svart Kaffe with a kulning in the middle, and several references to the Japanese "Iwate (or Nambu, or Nanbu) Cow Herding Song", which is often played as a flute showpiece. It seems that Japanese cows like yodelly sounds too, only from male voices. The Japanese genre of cow herding songs is "ushi-oi-uta" or "ushi-kata-bushi". There must be zillions from India but I'm buggered if I can find them. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Emma B Date: 12 Dec 07 - 12:45 PM Fixed your link Jack now can I sit upright again? :) |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Emma B Date: 12 Dec 07 - 01:06 PM Also Amhrán Fosuíchta (Herding song) on World Library Of Folk & Primitive Music, Vol. 2: Ireland recorded by Alan Lomax sample here |
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Subject: RE: Songs for "cattlists for change" From: Severn Date: 12 Dec 07 - 01:24 PM Alan and John A. Lomax's "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads" and Austin E. & Alta S. Fife's "Cowboy And Western Songs" are good collections for that part of the genre. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Bee Date: 12 Dec 07 - 01:33 PM Fairly new: Tired by Fred Eaglesmith... Which I can't find in my lyrics at the moment, and I'm pretty sure I'm still missing a verse, so if anyone has all the lyrics - plzthx. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Jack Campin Date: 12 Dec 07 - 01:59 PM Another quick google shows there are a lot of Maasai herding songs and tunes. This could make for an interesting cross-cultural compilation - it'd be good to know how far the characteristics of cow-herding music are determined by human culture and how far by the preferences of cows. A lot of cow tunes seem to be in an extreme arch form, starting and ending low and going briefly as high as the voice or instrument can reach. This isn't generally thought of as one of the more primitive melody types. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: ROUNDUP LULLABY (Badger Clark) From: Ross Campbell Date: 12 Dec 07 - 02:25 PM Somebody sings this song in the film "The Same River Twice" - DVD available from www.samerivertwice.com I haven't found a recording anywhere else, but these lyrics found on the web at www.geocities.com/yosemite/trails/5542/CowboyLullaby.html have the last line of the chorus as I remember it. Cowboy's Lullaby Desert silv'ry blue beneath the pale moon light Coyotes yappin' lazy on the hill Sleepy winks of lightnin' on the far skyline Time for milling cattle to be still So, now the lightnin's far away, the coyote's nothin' skeery Just singing to his dearie Hey ho tomorrow's another day So settle down, ye cattle, 'til the morning. Nothin' out there on the plains that you folks need, Nothin' there that seems to take your eye, Sill you've got to watch them or they'll all stampede Plungin' down some 'rroyo bank to die... So, now the lightnin'.... Ross |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: sian, west wales Date: 12 Dec 07 - 06:51 PM Jack, there was some discussion of cow-related songs on the Ethnomusicology list some time ago. I mentioned the Welsh oxen songs, and someone else came back with details of boys singing to oxen who turned the water pumps in Egypt. Cross-cultural indeed. Re: the 'shape' of the tunes, I imagine (and I do mean 'imagine') that the arches accommodate both the needs of the human voice, and the job at hand. The sound for calling to animals across a field (or two, or three) would carry farther in a higher register, and it's easier for the voice to build up to that register in stages. That's the case with some of the Cathreiwyr tunes. Similarly, there's a Welsh milkmaid 'call' that fits that bill. Another thing that took some explaining to me is that back when ploughing with oxen was the norm, farming was also labour intensive so you could look out across Welsh (British, et al) farms and most fields would have someone doing something in them. Factor in the hilly landscape, and a world with no engine noises. It wasn't unusual for a cathreiwr in one field to start competing with the one on the other slope as to who could sing more verses to a tune. sian |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Nerd Date: 12 Dec 07 - 11:24 PM The original of Harry Stephens's "Night Herding Song" was recorded by John Lomax for the Archive of American Folk-song, which has become the American Folklife Center Archive (I work there these days). This original recording of the song is also available, on a Rounder CD. [link] I also love Skip Gorman's version.... |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: mg Date: 13 Dec 07 - 12:06 AM The young men formerly known as the lost boys of Sudan used to make up songs for their cattle, and even in exile are said to have made up cattle songs..and I know I mentioned this before but when they had the chance to come to America were very interested in Chicago, because they had seen Chicago Bulls T shirts and thought here was a group of people who obviously appreciated their cows too..mg |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: mg Date: 13 Dec 07 - 12:11 AM oh I have a song about oxen that came to me at last Rainycamp on an old logging road there...there is a woman in Centralia WA who I think goes by the name of Bullwhacker Sue??? and I think works and gives exhibits with oxen. How many times have you climbed that mountain Down the corderoy road So many times I just stopped counting Down the beautiful corderoy road Heave and trudge ehave and trudge Down the corderoy road An extra yank when the cart won't budge Down the beautiful corderoy road Your master's name does he treat you fair Down the corderoy road Her name is Sue she's beyond compare Down the beautiful corderoy road Does she every try to move you faster She says she'll put me out to pasture Does she ever have to use the whip Only when my foot should slip A teamster's life is never dull Not when there are logs to pull We'll always work so have no fears They'll need us to 200 years |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST Date: 13 Dec 07 - 03:28 AM Wasn't 'git along little doges' was a Venetian president- herding song? |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: John MacKenzie Date: 13 Dec 07 - 05:37 AM Katie Beardie had a coo, Black and white about the mou'; Wasna that a dentie coo? Dance, Katie Beardie! |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: cetmst Date: 13 Dec 07 - 06:54 AM Winter Cows - John Gorka |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,John Gray in Oz Date: 13 Dec 07 - 07:06 AM "Cows With Guns" does it for me. JG / FME |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work Date: 13 Dec 07 - 07:26 AM And there was me thinking 'I got the moosic in me' 'Moo Danube' 'Moo were made for me'... I'm obviously not quite with the programme... LTS |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Bee Date: 13 Dec 07 - 08:26 AM I have the Rounder CD with Skip Gorman singing the Night Herding Song. It's hauntingly beautiful. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Emma B Date: 13 Dec 07 - 08:50 AM Hey! it really works! "Music is just one way to ease bovine stress. According to a study by the University of Leicester in Great Britain, milk production increased by 3 percent a day when slow or classical music, such as Beethoven, was played. After subtracting the extra feed and the cost to power a radio, the return is significant" err didn't Eddie Grundy do something like this? :) |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work Date: 13 Dec 07 - 08:56 AM This isn't news... even Thomas Hardy writing in 1890 acknowledged that singing whilst milking cows had a significant effect on the production of milk. My granfer would sing 'Nancy of London' to his. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Charley Noble Date: 13 Dec 07 - 09:06 AM What a great idea for a thread! I do have a fondness for "Winter Cows" by John Gorka, the image of" white cows lost in the snow" has haunted me for years. But then there's Tanglefoot with "Radioman," (CAPTURED LIVE) which tells the tale of a young farmer who sets up a massive radio in his dairybarn, and the cows love it. Milk production soars! And the old bull gets off on the sports and ragtime. But then the mice sabotage the radio; it no longer receives Canadian stations, just the stations from the States. The cows adjust but the farmer has his doubts. Hence the title of the song, the appeal for the repairman. Then there's the old ditty that my brother and I used to sing in the dairybarn, titled "Pass the Other Udder Over to me Other Brother." Are there any more dairy airs? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work Date: 13 Dec 07 - 09:10 AM There's the London dairy air.... I'll get me coat... LTS |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Amos Date: 13 Dec 07 - 10:21 AM Well, show us your dairy air before you go.... A |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Gulliver Date: 13 Dec 07 - 11:03 AM Cow-Cow Boogie and Milk-Cow Boogie had them hoppin' along in the milking parlour. Don |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Charley Noble Date: 13 Dec 07 - 11:14 AM Amos et al- Two maidens went milking one day, One day when the breeze was so fair; It lifted their petticoats, revealing to all Their pert but petit derrières. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Bob Bolton Date: 14 Dec 07 - 07:20 PM Hmmmm..., I was working through my friend Dave Johnson's web posting on: "Playing Anglo Concertina in Bush Music Style*" (* Australian rural traditions) and came across this lovely, wordless, tune: Lawrie Cobley's Cattle Lullaby. It had been included as a gentle, "non-ending" tune in his "Cross-Row Tunes" (although I play it all happily on the 'C' row). It works well on the traditional free-reed instruments found in the Bush in the 19th century, but Lawrie Cobley - from whom Dave de Hugard collected this tune - was a drover, taking cattle across vast empty stages in Australia. Lawrie "lilted" this tune, rather than playing it on an instrument, as he circled the cattle at night. It was necessary to keep the cattle aware of - and familiar with - your presence to avoid starting a "rush" ('stampede') and it was traditional to always make some repetitive noise: singing, playing something like a mouth organ, etcetera. Anwyway, I reckon this definitely qualifies as a "Song for Cattle" ... and it's a nice, contemplative, piece for the traditional concertina. Here is the tune rendered in "Alan of Australia's" now "Not Supported By Mudcat" MIDItext program. If you still have this app loaded (and it works in your current OS!), you can directly recreate the "sheet music". Otherwise, the ABC format version is given at the end - and can be reconstituted into dots in various (on-line) programs.
This program is worth the effort of learning it. To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here
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Subject: Tune Add: LAWRIE COBLEY'S CATTLE LULLABY From: Jack Campin Date: 14 Dec 07 - 08:26 PM Most ABC software could make no sense of that version of Lawrie Cobley's tune. You wouldn't want to try creating staff notation from that MIDIText output if you could use what's on the original webpage. I went back to it and wrote it out from scratch to get this, which will play in an ABA form to give you an idea of the repeat structure and will also typeset legibly. (On BarFly at least - haven't tried other programs, the complicated repeat structure here is hard to represent and you may want to change it a little for other software).
The tune is related to the one used in Scotland for the song "The Galway Shawl". MIDIText seems not to know what a triplet is. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Bob Bolton Date: 15 Dec 07 - 01:57 AM G'day Jack, Thanks for patching that up! I used Alan's old program because I don't make any use of ABC (it's a pretty poor substitute for real dots ...) and I had reset Dave's version to get it all laid out without the repeats ... and an apparent omission of a final bar. Since my program happily saves that to a MIDI file ( a thing I do find useful in sharing tunes - especially to ear players), I thought the MIDItext would, at least, give a workable ABC rendition ... but it seems I need something more recent to deal with triplets! Anyway, at least it comes close to being "A Song for Cattle" - when 'lilted' - and your identification of a possible Scots ancestry makes 'lilting' an appropriate delivery! Regards, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,Buttercup Date: 15 Dec 07 - 11:28 AM Moooooooooooooooo----n River........ |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Charley Noble Date: 15 Dec 07 - 12:33 PM There's also the tragic ballad about the cow that sank the Japanese fishing trrawler Kaisi Maru: Click at Your Own Risk! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Liz the Squeak Date: 16 Dec 07 - 12:10 AM For the cows who like a bit of bovine pornography.... Blue Mooooooooooo n... Still got me coat on... LTS |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: topical tom Date: 16 Dec 07 - 03:07 PM For a touch of humour, how about a song BY a cow? Here |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: katlaughing Date: 16 Dec 07 - 04:01 PM As a granddaughter and daughter of "cow men" I just wanted to say this has been a fun thread to keep track of. Thanks! |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Liz the Squeak Date: 17 Dec 07 - 02:48 AM Kat - I'm with you - my forebears (well three of them, the fourth was a shepherd) were farmers and I spent half my formative years on a dairy farm. Cows are much misunderstood and people are frightened of them for no reason, when all they want is to find out what's going on. If you stand at the gate of a cow pasture long enough, you'll end up with all the cows coming up and looking at you. You can even make them look like a backing group, if you're daft enough! Singing Moo wop of course. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,Derek Brinkley Date: 17 Dec 07 - 09:17 AM I met a girl at Walden Market At Walden Market coming home I said to her 'My pretty fair one Why so sadly do you roam?' She said 'I've been to Walden Market For there they took my spotted cow And gave her to the cruel butchers So I have lost my Daisy now'. I said to her 'My pretty fair one Then take a walk a mile with me. I have a calf with a star on his forehead That little brown calf I'll give to thee' She said 'I thank you, handsome stranger, But your brown calf's too young for me. My Daisy was the finest heifer That on these meadows you did see' 'Well if my calf it does not suit you Then take from me my heart instead. And we will win the Flitch of Bacon In Dunmow Town when we are wed.' The young girl's eyes they filled with tears And not one word to me did say But all along the green lanes brightly We walked arm in arm that summer day. Collected in Suffolk by Neil Langham. Unforgiveably I can't remember the singer's name. He had it from his mother. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: GETTIN' IN THE COWS (Charlie Maguire) From: Art Thieme Date: 17 Dec 07 - 02:07 PM Here's a song that's available on my CD for Folk Legacy titled: ART THIEME--THAT'S THE TICKET. Charlie Maguire's grand song --- "Gettin' In The Cows" This is an udderly amazing song about dairy life. No bull! ---Sorry! (Heifer joke is better than none, I guess!! ;-) I start my day in the sun-up dark, Going down the lane to get the milk-cows up, I've got a Holstein, a Jersey and a one-eyed steer, An old brown cow that jumps fences like a deer. The dew is on the ground and my feet are wet, Got a light in my hand and a hat on my head, Going' down to pasture to get my herd, They are chewin' their cud and looking at the birds. (Chorus--) Getting' in the cows, shoo 'em in the barn, Put 'em in the stanchions--turn the radio on, Milk 'em all dry -- send 'em out again, Wait a month on the dairy for the check to come in!! Well, get up you cows---and I get 'em on the move, Their udders are a-swingin' like water in balloons, Take 'em to the barn and they know their place, With the lead one first---and I close the gate. (chorus) I bring the cart around and I give 'em all some feed, They lick their noses and flap their ears at me, I put on the machine and it feels so good, Just to let down the milk like a good cow should. chorus Folks say a cow's face is so fine, But I see their back ends most of the time, I work all summer to put hay in the mow, I work all winter just to feed it to the cow. The milking's all done---I've got the weather report, Got my day all planned for my job of work, Back to the pasture goes half of my life, I'm going in the house and hug my wife. -----------Chorus Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Art Thieme Date: 17 Dec 07 - 02:11 PM Actually that chorus ought to be sung after every TWO verses... Sorry again! To ere is human, to forgive, bovine!! Art |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,patriot1314 Date: 17 Dec 07 - 02:18 PM The Rangey Ribs I Bought From Mickey Doo and....erm..... Build me up Buttercup! |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Ross Campbell Date: 28 Dec 07 - 10:30 PM Further info re "The Cowboy Lullaby " I posted above. A bit more digging suggests that there are alternative titles - "Desert Blue and Silver" and "The Roundup Song". In its original form it was a poem by Badger Clark - found here - www.cowboypoetry.com/badger.htm#Lullaby The song versions seem to stick to the first chorus throughout, and miss out some of the verses - which seems a shame - the more I read it, the better I like it. There's a nice close-harmony version by Theresa Coyle, Laura Partch, & Laurie Patton on a CD called "Desert Silver Blue". It can be heard by clicking "Roundup Lullaby" at http://cdbaby.com/cd/desertdsilverblues Ross |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,Elizabeth Date: 29 Dec 07 - 09:00 AM Great- and interesting thread, Emma B! Would you know any recording of the first song you mentioned? Sian, are there any literature on the songs for cattle in the Welsh tradiiton? Or do you have any references to works where suchsongs are mentioned? As far as I know "kulning" ("cattle call"), is mostly used in Swedish. The Norwegian term is "lokk". In the great book, "The songs of Elizabeth Cronin", discussed in another thread, there is a song called "Raghd-sa ó thuaidh leat, a bhó", a song sung by a milking-woman, wishing the cow safe from any harm. Elizabeth |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Severn Date: 29 Dec 07 - 10:02 AM Elizabeth, Of the "Chisholm Trail/Old Chisholm Trail" Woody Guthrie has recordings out on the 4-CD set "Some Folk" (Proper Box 115) and on "The Asch Recordings 1-4 on Smithsonian Folkways. The RCA Vintage LP "Authentic Cowboys And Their Western Folksongs" (LPV 522) has "Haywire" Mac McClintock's version. Saul Broudy sings one on "Cowboy Songs" (National Geographic Society 07786) Oscar Brand sings an Off color version on "Bawdy Western Songs" (originally on LP on Audio Fidelity AFLP 1920) and Available on CD reissue from Mr. Brand himseld as is another version by Brand on "Bawdy songs Rides Again". Tex Ritter's version is on CD on "High Noon" (Living Era CD AJA 5479) Plenty more out there, as it's one of the most popular and most recorded of all Western songs. You could probably Google scores more. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: sian, west wales Date: 02 Jan 08 - 06:19 AM Elizabeth, all the stuff I have on the subject (oxen songs) is in Welsh I'm afraid. I'll give it some thought; there may be some articles somewhere in English. sian |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: katlaughing Date: 02 Jan 08 - 11:06 AM Ross, we've always called it Desert Silvery Blue. My sisters and I used to sing it. I have posted the lyrics, as we learned them in Western Colorado and Wyoming, a couple of times and they are also in the DT under that title. Here's the ABC and/or link to a MIDI of the TUNE for it. Also, don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. I can still copy and send out CDs of old cowboy 78s which my brother recorded as noted in THIS THREAD. I may be a bit slow in getting them done as I will have to do them on a weekend, but if anyone is interested, please send me a PM with your addy. Thanks, kat |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,Elizabeth Date: 02 Jan 08 - 02:11 PM Thanks Severn. And thank you Sian. The references you have for Welsh litterature would also be of interest. Elizabeth |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,Elizabeth Date: 13 Aug 08 - 12:26 PM Sian, could you give me more details on that Welsh milkmaid call? |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego Date: 13 Aug 08 - 04:54 PM I grew up raising beef cattle on our ranch and can't recall any animal I ever encountered that could carry a tune, nor really appreciate the nuances of a good song. I also don't remember ever composing any songs celebrating one of them, though I was fond of a couple of my older animals (NO! Not THAT fond!). That aside, the thread brings back an old argument from the coffee house days of the 1950's. When Jimmy Rodgers did "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," which I believe he gleaned from The Weavers, it was said, by the self-appointed guardians of folk purism, to have been based on an old Irish lament for a dead cow. Surely, someone out there knows the truth of this. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Severn Date: 14 Aug 08 - 12:51 AM Yes. I have a recording of it by Ed McCurdy. See Ocscar Brand in concert and he'll probably tell the tale of hearing it at a party he attended with Pete seeger and Leadbelly way back when and hearing Leadbelly try to forge it into something new rhythmically in the cab on the way home. From that recasting of the tune. the Weavers put new words to it and the rest was history.Brand in the stelling sings both songs. Oscar and Pete and Leadbelly were there at the creation. I've heard him tell the tale a couple of times in concert. I don't know if Brand recorded the story on one of his own recordings, but I heard it on a tape I found once ad a yard sale of highlights of a benefit concert put on in washington DC by the World Folk Music Assn. who tend to be more nostalgic for the singer-songwriters and the Kingston Trio/Limelighters version of folk than the FSGW. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: sian, west wales Date: 14 Aug 08 - 05:44 AM Elizabeth, it's called Cainc yr Odryddes (Tune of the Milkmaid) and can be found here. It's from a Iolo Morgannwg manuscript, circa 1800. Words mean, "Hai, how how (just a 'call') Brothen (cow's name) to the farmyard, Hai how how Brothen to the farmyard: Hai how how, Little Brothen, Little Brothen; Hai how how, Hai how how, hai how how, Brothen to the farmyard; Stand, o stand, stand, o stand, stand, o stand! Brothen to the farmyard, Brothen to the farmyard" (Brilliant stuff, eh?) Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit replacing next cow's name for 'Brothen', in this case, "Seren" ('Star') sian |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Artful Codger Date: 14 Aug 08 - 07:02 AM What about this song Peter Bellamy used to sing: "Down the Mooer (Through the Heifer)"? |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,Elizabeth Date: 14 Aug 08 - 09:31 AM Thanks a million, Sian! |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Cool Beans Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:13 AM Moove It On Over (Hank Williams) |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Artful Codger Date: 15 Aug 08 - 04:00 PM Is "Lowlands, lowlands, low" about cow pastures? |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Genie Date: 16 Aug 08 - 12:44 PM Cow Patty (Jim Stafford) Then there's Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Genie Date: 16 Aug 08 - 01:02 PM Isn't there a song called "A Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow"? A few more udder classics: Duke Ellington: "Mooed Indigo" (That's what the cow did after she swallowed some blue dye.) Glen Miller: "I'm In The Moo'd For Love" Percy French: "Abdullah Bull Bull, Emir"? Blondie: "Cow Me" Kate Smith: "When The Moo Comes Over The Mountain" Then there's that bawdy folk song "The Lobster," with the refrain that ends "Never let your bullocks dangle in the dust!" And don't forget "The Bull At Kirriemuir" (sp?) And "After The Bull (Is Over)" |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: RobbieWilson Date: 16 Aug 08 - 01:19 PM as ah was walkin doon the road ah saw a coo.... .....a bull be goad |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: RobbieWilson Date: 16 Aug 08 - 01:20 PM daisy, daisy give me your answer doo or is that about pigeons |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,rich raja-aho Date: 06 Sep 13 - 03:33 PM if anyone is near newcastle and gateshead, there used to be a lovely bloke on the folk club circuit called rag time kev - wrote a tune called "mad cow jumping" as I recall... |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: mg Date: 06 Sep 13 - 08:38 PM Here is one of mine about a dairy maid from Switzerland..tune is Richard Baker. My name is Frieda Schiller and I am a dairy maid With eggs and cream and buttermilk ja that is how I'm paid I take my goods to market and sometimes to the store When the train comes to Chehalis then I hope to sell some more The lilac trees are blooming now in pretty little dells You can tell the cows are coming home by the tinkling of their bells When twilight falls they're in their stalls happy and content And I am in my milkhouse where my time is often spent You'll never see a fever here a fly can not be found And hired men scoop up the mess before it hits the ground You ask me why I work so hard and I will tell you this I do because I ought to and I do because I'm Swiss When the Skookumchuck is rising and overflows its banks I take my cows to higher ground and pause there and give thanks For two strong arms and dairy farms and grass on which they graze And rivers deep enough to flood and calm and peaceful days ---- Did someone mention wait till the cows come home... what'll you do if the cow's in the clover highland widow's lament..once I had twa score o kye..feeding on yon hills sae high pirate one..lassie ye've a peaceful hame and cattle ye hae ten can ye no live a lawful life and live wi' lawful men |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: Eldergirl Date: 07 Sep 13 - 03:07 AM Packie Byrne's "Life of a Drover" has verses about keeping the cattle happy as they travel on the road to market. Think there's a thread on this song elsewhere. Can't recall any of lyrics except ' and I've travelled this country all over ' which is probably not much help, sorry, :( e. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: GUEST,gutcher Date: 07 Sep 13 - 04:10 AM My outbye grannie called her 2 milking cows home with the call caa-pria, caa-pria, caa-pria. My friend called his milking herd home with the call caa-leddy, caa-leddy, caa-leddy. Leddy may have been lady, as to pria this may be gaelic from the time not so very far back when gaelic was spoken in South West Scotland, I must consult my gaelic speaking friend to see if pria has meaning in that tongue. |
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Subject: RE: Songs for cattle From: AnneMC Date: 07 Sep 13 - 06:07 AM And this a lovely Scottish ballad about cattle droving: The Drover Road to Amulree (David Wilkie of Celtic Cowboys band) The wind pushed the herd along, on the wings of an ancient song Through passes and rivers went cattle and men And in the worst of the weather, they slept on the heather Headed south on the old way, or mountain through glen Before they laid down the steel rails and blocked off the cattle trails The hardships were plenty and the pleasures were few But he walked the hills so wild and free on the way to Amulree Then he got what he could when the droving was through So come along then to the small glen, by the old inn,on the river bend Out on the roads, where he wanted to be Highland men off to battle, drovers drivin' their cattle On the Drover Road to Amulree Then he grew older and tired, his life uninspired And he'd wait for the black herds that never came by But it would not end in an old chair, all alone or in despair That was no way for a drover to die They found him face down on the cold ground, On the old road that led from town Days passed till they knew that he'd gone away Instead of sitting by the old stove, he set off on his last drove And died in the tracks of a long bye-gone day |
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