Lyr Req: Sioux City Sue

Subject: Original of "Sioux City Sue"
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Apr 97 - 08:44 PM

I hear "Sioux City Sue" played on the radio occasionally...but I remember it as a kid (in the mid '40s) as having other verses than I hear now....specifically, I remember a verse that went (approximatly)

I planned to leave on Sunday, but she held me kinda tight,

So I stayed around & I hung around, and I left on Friday night"

...is my memory faulty? Does anyone know where this came from? I used to play it on a juke box in Dalhart, Texas-- when my dad would give me a nickle...but I just can't dredge up the verses I heard then....

Subject: RE: Original of
From: Les Blank
Date: 08 Apr 97 - 11:51 PM

Help Gene Graham !! The little I remember:

Out to California down from old New York way
That's how I came to be in the state of I-O-WAY.
Met a gal whose hair was red, her eyes were big and blue.
I asked her what her name was; she said "Sioux City Sue"

Sioux City Sue, Sioux City Sue,
Your hair is red, your eyes are blue
I'd swap my horse and dog for you.
Sioux City Sue, Sioux City Sue,
There ain't no gal as true as my sweet Sioux City Sue.

ETC.

Subject: RE: Original of
From: Blank -- again
Date: 08 Apr 97 - 11:53 PM

I believe the song was sung by Gene Autry or Jimmy Wakely

Subject: Add: SIOUX CITY SUE (from Gene Autry)
From: Gene Graham
Date: 09 Apr 97 - 01:23 AM

TAH-DA-TA-DAH! Who was that masked man?

SIOUX CITY SUE
Recorded by Gene Autry –
Written by R. Freedman and R. Thomas

I drove a herd of cattle down from old New-brasky way
That's how I come to be in the state of Io-way.
I met a gal in Iowa. Her eyes were big and blue.
I asked her what her name was. She said: "Sioux City Sue."

REFRAIN: Sioux City Sue, Sioux City Sue,
Your hair is red. your eyes are blue.
I'd swap horse and dog for you.
Sioux City Sue, Sioux City Sue,
There ain't no gal as true
As my sweet Sioux City Sue.

I asked her if she had a beau. She said: "Yes quite a few."
But till I started courtin' my Sioux City Sue
The first time that I stole a kiss, I caught her stealin' too.
I asked her did she love me? She said: "Indeed I do."

Now I'm admittin', Iowa, I owe a lot to you,
'Cause I come from New-brasky to find Sioux City Sue.
I'm gonna rope and tie her up. I'll use my old lassoo.
I'm gonna put my brand on my sweet Sioux City Sue.

Here's Gene Autry's version, but old Gene wouldn't have done the other verse.

---

This transcription was added to the Digital Tradition.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Original of
From: Coralena
Date: 09 Apr 97 - 07:42 AM

Found an album in a used record store by Gene Autry that has 'Sue City Sue'on it and finally I've 'That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine', along with alot of other good songs.

Subject: RE: Original of
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Apr 97 - 11:30 AM

hmmmm...thanks, folks.....but I still have that other old verse rattling around in my head....I don't *think* I made it up...but, now, knowing the authors, maybe I can trace something more.....thanks again..

Subject: RE: Original of
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 09 Apr 97 - 12:32 PM

Back in the 40s, we used to sing: "Sioux City Sue, Sioux City Sue Your teeth are green, your eyes are black I want my hoss and doggioe back..."

Subject: RE: Original of
From: Dale Rose
Date: 21 Apr 97 - 02:52 PM

Back during the "lost week" I posted some information about another version~~in fact, the only one I knew at the time. Tiny Hill recorded it for Columbia or maybe Okeh. [same thing] I have a 78 of it somewhere, but have nothing to play it with anymore. As I remember it, the words were substantially as posted above.

Subject: Texas Folk Songs
From:
Date: 10 Apr 97 - 06:00 PM

Would like to have the complete lyrics for 2 Texas Folk songs: Deep in the Heart of Texas The Eyes of Texas....are apon you

Subject: RE: Original of
From: Dale Rose
Date: 11 Apr 97 - 02:30 AM

I have Sioux City Sioux on a Columbia 78 by Tiny Hill, but without a "victrola", I can't play it anymore! The words as I remember them are pretty much like the Autry version quoted. I have no remembrance of anything similar to the original request.

Subject: ADD Version/Tune: Sioux City Sue
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Nov 06 - 03:05 PM

Sioux City Sue
(Ray Freedman, lyrics; Dick Thomas, music)

I drove a herd of cattle down from old Nebraska way
That's how I come to be in the state of I-o-way.
I met a gal in I-o-way; Her eyes were big and blue.
I asked her what her name was; She said, "Sioux City Sue."

CHORUS:
Sioux City Sue, Sioux City Sue,
Your hair is red, your eyes are blue.
I'd swap my horse and dog for you.
Sioux City Sue, Sioux City Sue,
There ain't no gal as true
As my sweet Sioux City Sue.

I asked her if she had a beau; She said, "Yes, quite a few."
But still I started courtin' My sweet Sioux City Sue.
The first time that I stole a kiss, I caught her stealing two.
I asked her did she love me, She said, "Indeed I do."
CHORUS

Now I'm admitting, Iowa, I owe a lot to you,
'Cause I come from Nebraska To find Sioux City Sue.
I'm gonna rope and tie her up; I'll use my old lasso.
I'm gonna put my brand on My sweet Sioux City Sue.


©1945, Edwin H. Morris & Company

Source: 1001 Jumbo Song Book, Charles Hanson Educational Sheet Music and Books

(I've found the Hansen books to be a fairly accurate representation of the original. -Joe-)

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Original of 'Sioux City Sue'
From: Ferrara
Date: 10 Nov 06 - 04:06 PM

Well Dick Spotswood played the original recording of Sioux City Sue, sung by the guy who wrote it. Based on that I found a midi by the author, which is somewhere in cyberland on our temporarily-out-of-service computer. He yodels on the choruses. Fantastic. There are only the three verses. Bill still hasn't figured out where that other verse comes from but probably not from SCS.

BTW the night I met Bill we discovered we both knew Sioux City Sue. (My sister and I learned it when I was four years old. It was our favorite song.) Based on this evidence I figured Bill was somebody worth knowing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Original of 'Sioux City Sue'
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Nov 06 - 04:39 PM

Oh...yes I HAVE figgered out where that verse came from in the depths of my memory! It....ummm...was from a totally different song! It just happens to scan both metrically and thematically.

I'm surprised no one else caught it....Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Original of 'Sioux City Sue'
From: Louie Roy
Date: 10 Nov 06 - 04:53 PM

my song book says that the words to sioux city sue was written by ray freeman and the music was written by dick thomas in 1945.---also i have the words to deep in the heart of texas written in 1941 by june hershey and the music by don swander and the words to the eyes of texas is upon us written and recorded by john sinclair in 1903.i won't try to post anything until i get the use of my right hand it is still tied down.if no one else posts these song i will but it will be about 3 weeks louie roy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Original of 'Sioux City Sue'
From: Peace
Date: 10 Nov 06 - 05:07 PM

Which came first, . . .

"Plot Summary for
Sioux City Sue (1946)
Utilizing a script from 1939's "She Married a Cop" with a 1946 Hit Parade song for the title, Gene Autry's screen return following his WW II Army Air Corps service, "Sioux City Sue" has Hollywood talent scout Sue Warner (Lynne Roberts) in search of a singing cowboy and finding and offering cattle rancher Gene Autry (Gene Autry) a contract. He agrees to go to Hollywood if there is a part for his horse Champion. Gene isn't aware they only want to use his voice in an animated cartoon. After the preview, he and Champ depart in a huff (Well, actually, Champ was in a trailer). The annoyed Sue also follows and gets work on Gene's ranch as a cook. Later, the studio heads, while looking at Gene's screen test, decide he is a natural and want to sign him to a contract. After a few misunderstandings, Gene realizes that Sue is sincere, and he signs a contract to star in a musical western, but first he has to stop a cattle stampede and rout a gang of rustlers trying to blow up his ranch dam.

Summary written by Les Adams {[e-mail]}"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Original of 'Sioux City Sue'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Nov 06 - 05:08 PM

Just so it doesn't get lost, here are the lyrics from the Sinatra site BillD linked to,
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/hair+of+gold+eyes+of+blue_20055676.html

I came down from butte, montana,
For a little change of scene,
And I stopped to stay in santa fe,
Where I met a pretty queen.
Hair of gold, eyes of blue,
Lips like cherry wine
Shes the prettiest gal I ever know
and Im gonna make her mine.
Now I planned to leave on monday,
But she held me kinda tight,
So I stood my ground and hung around,
And then I left on friday night.
Oh, hair of gold, eyes of blue,
Lips like cherry wine,
The prettiest gal I ever knew
and Im gonna make her mine.

Did the tune match, Bill, or was it just the meter?
Seems to me there's one more verse of "Sue," but I can't find it.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Original of 'Sioux City Sue'
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Nov 06 - 05:11 PM

The tune was quite 'similar', Joe....you know how some of those songs are.

As my Daddy used to say, "the same, only diff'rent"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Original of 'Sioux City Sue'
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Nov 06 - 05:14 PM

(well, the chorus/refrain was similar...the 'verse' was a bit more different...but to my child's brain, they got very much 'mushed' together)