'On the Road to Cairo' - song search

28 Oct 01 - 05:27 PM (#581545)
Subject: 'On the Road to Cairo' - song search
From: Ian HP

I've just been to Egypt by cruise. The ship radio played the above song about "the tourist trap in Cairo". As well as the stunning pyramids and museum I was struck by the accuracy of the song and now want to sing it. Digitrad has a version called "The Old Bazaar In Cairo" and a couple of old threads about it, but the one I heard definitely had the title on this thread and some new references about postcards and the tourist trap, etc. Any idea what the updated version is, who it's by, where I can find the words/a recording? I've searched the net but not come up with anything. Thanks.

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28 Oct 01 - 07:46 PM (#581612)
Subject: RE: 'On the Road to Cairo' - song search
From: Art Thieme

My son went to college in Egypt. It is a strange place but O.K. if you want to actually "be" in the south while still being in the north. Thebes and Karnac are lovely this time of year although it takes a long long time for autumn to arrive. Most of the trees change so that by Christmas thet've dropped all their foliage. Cairo is where the two big rivers join and you can actually see the long muddy tell-tale sign of one passing alongside the clearer water from the other for miles and miles before they grudgingly mingle into each other. There was a customs house at Cairo during the civil war where the northern troops effectively closed both rivers. After that sad war ended the part of Egypt where Cairo lies was more attuned to southern sentiments. Some bloody clan fighting took place there with horrible tolls being taken when family fought family and that turned into catasterophic labor battles as the too violent nature of these people erupted again and again over the years. Below is a song from that sad war that tells some of the story:

CAIRO

There's a place out west where the Union troops
Take toll from the rebel troops and sloops,
And if down the river a craft would go
She must recognize a custom house at Cairo.

Cairo oh, Cairo
There's no giving them the slip you know
It stands on the river like a military crow
To take corn contraband for Cairo.

The rolling Mississippi was a highway free
When the people down in Dixie acted honestly,
But since like plunderers they've cut up so
They'll have to pay a floatin' tax to Cairo.

Cairo, oh Cairo,
The southrons say it's a precious go
But they can't send a boat for a bit of tow,
But it has to take an overhaul at Cairo.

The southern chivaligators now they say
To capture the place now are on their way,
But if they'd take my advice they'd never try to go
Within telescopic range of Cairo.

Cairo, oh Cairo
The Union guns are mounted so,
That if once sighted at a nearby foe
They'd make a perfect graveyard of Cairo.

Bold Prentice made the chief command,
And prime Jim Lee is close at hand,
They are bound by their honors to do nothing slow
But to take a river revenue at Cairo.

Cairo, oh Cairo
There's no giving them the slip you know,
And if down the river the traitors want to go,
They'll have to get their luggage checked at Cairo.

* Chris went to school at Carbondale.

Art Thieme

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28 Oct 01 - 10:11 PM (#581678)
Subject: RE: 'On the Road to Cairo' - song search
From: Mark Cohen

Art, I don't think Ian was talking about Illinois...The late David Ackles had a song and album called The Road to Cairo, but that was also not the one in Africa. Or were you pulling our collective leg again?

Aloha,
Mark

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29 Oct 01 - 12:03 AM (#581715)
Subject: RE: 'On the Road to Cairo' - song search
From: Art Thieme

Who, me?

Aloeja back atcha.

Art ;-)

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29 Oct 01 - 08:15 PM (#582316)
Subject: RE: 'On the Road to Cairo' - song search
From: Art Thieme

refresh ;-)

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30 Jan 03 - 08:13 PM (#878753)
Subject: RE: 'On the Road to Cairo' - song search
From: GUEST,Q

Fragment of song in the Wolf Collection, sung by Mrs. Grace Hastings, of Memphis, TN, 1960.

When Cairo Burned Down

My partner, he was sleeping,
Poor fellow, he was sleeping so sound,
While the fire surround his body,
And the city of Cairo burnt down.

Anyone know more of the song or the circumstances of the fire?

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30 Jan 03 - 08:48 PM (#878768)
Subject: RE: 'On the Road to Cairo' - song search
From: Pinetop Slim

Looks like no help for you yet, Ian, but laughs are better than lyrics sometimes. Here's a guess that the cruise ship song was a parody set to the fiddle tune "Road to Cairo." Maybe the cruise company has a web site where you could track it down somehow, or a PR office.

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31 Jan 03 - 07:19 PM (#879596)
Subject: RE: 'On the Road to Cairo' - song search
From: Art Thieme

October 1871----A completely dry time with high wind and Chicago burnt down----as did Peshtigo, Wisconsin----------a terrible fire there --- actually a classic firestorm that, in the twinkle of an eye, killed over 250 people and incinerated thousands of acres. Under the ground there was a fire to a depth of several feet and metal flowed like water then boiled away. See a fine recent book called FIRESTORM AT PESHTIGO.

The Chicago and Peshtigo fires were the same day/week/month.

Don't know of a Cairo, Illinois fire though.

Art Thieme

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