ADD/Origins: A Bad Half Hour (Badger Clark)

04 Mar 09 - 02:18 PM (#2581249)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: A Bad Half Hour (Badger Clark)
From: Joe Offer

Kendall mentioned this song in another thread, and said it was by Tom Russell. It does appear on Russell's Cowboy Real album, but I saw somewhere that the lyrics were by Charles Badger Clark (1863-1957) and the tune by Russell (I thought the tune was traditional, "Annie Laurie"). The Harry Fox Agency agrees with Kendall, and attributes it to Tom Russell.

Anybody know for sure? Do we have correct, complete lyrics?

Ed Trickett recorded the song on his Echo on the Evening Tide," introduced by one verse of "Annie Laurie." The lyrics are similar to those posted above, but not exactly the same. The tune is reminiscent of "Annie Laurie," but it's certainly not the same tune. My MP3 says the tune is traditional, lyrics by Badger Clark - but is that so?

The lyrics scan to the "A" part of the tune for "Annie Laurie," but I can't match the "B" part to the lyrics.

-Joe-

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04 Mar 09 - 02:51 PM (#2581271)
Subject: RE: ADD/Origins: A Bad Half Hour (Badger Clark)
From: Joe Offer

OK, here are the lyrics from the Tom Russell Cowboy Real album (Philo, 1992) - almost the same as what's posted above. Russell said he wrote a tune to the lyrics many years before he recorded it in 1991.

A BAD HALF HOUR
(Charles Badger Clark, tune by Tom Russell)

Wonder why I feel so restless;
    Moon is shinin' still and bright,
Cattle all is restin' easy,
    But I just can't sleep tonight.
Ain't no cactus in my blankets,
    Don't know why they feel so hard—
'Less it's Warblin' Jim a-singing
    "Annie Laurie" out on guard.

"Annie Laurie"—wish he'd quit it!
    Couldn't sleep now if I tried.
Makes the night seem big and lonesome,
    And my throat feels sore inside.
How my Annie used to sing it!
    And it sounded good and gay
Nights I drove her home from dances
    When the east was turnin' gray.

Yes, "her brow was like the snowdrift"
    And her eyes like quiet streams,
"And her face"—I still can see it
    Much too frequent in my dreams;
And her hand was soft and trembly
    That night beneath the tree,
When I couldn't help but tell her
    She was "all the world to me."

But her folks said I was "shif'less,"
    "Wild," "unsettled,"—they were right,
For I leaned to punchin' cattle
    And I'm at it still tonight.
And she married young Doc Wilkins—
   Oh, my Lord, I took it hard!
Wish that fool would quit his singing
    "Annie Laurie" out on guard!

"Annie Laurie"—wish he'd quit it!
    Couldn't sleep now if I tried.
Makes the night seem big and lonesome,
    My throat feels sore inside.
[instrumental break]

Oh I just can't stand it thinkin'
   Of the things that happened then.
Those good times, they're all apast me!
   Never seem to come again—
My turn? Sure, I'll come a-runnin'.
    Warm me up some coffee, pard—
But I'll stop that fool from singin'
    "Annie Laurie" out on guard.


from the CD booklet, Tom Russell Cowboy Real album - some corrections made to coincide with what Russell sings. Russell's tune is reminiscent of "Annie Laurie," but it's certainly not the same tune (Trickett sings the Tom Russell tune, introduced by one verse of "Annie Laurie," and with slightly different lyrics for the "Half Hour" part.


You'll find the original Charles Badger Clark text at http://www.cowboypoetry.com.
It's also in the 1922 edition of Badger Clark's Sun and Saddle Leather, available at Google Books.

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04 Mar 09 - 04:07 PM (#2581302)
Subject: RE: ADD/Origins: A Bad Half Hour (Badger Clark)
From: Amos

Clark also authored "High-Chin Bob" ('Way high up in the Mogollons...'), one of my favorite cowpuncher ballads ever.


A

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04 Mar 09 - 05:30 PM (#2581362)
Subject: RE: ADD/Origins: A Bad Half Hour (Badger Clark)
From: open mike

punch!

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