I would have thought we'd have every song from Sandburg's American Songbag, but somehow we missed this one. Here it is, from page 383:
I FOUND A HORSESHOE
I found a horseshoe, I found a horseshoe.
I picked it up and nailed it on the door;
And it was rusty and full of nail holes,
Good luck 'twill bring to you forevermore.
The man who owned the horse he lived in New York,
The man who owned the horse he lived in New York,
The man who owned the horse,
The man who owned the horse,
The man who owned the horse he lived in New York.
The horse that wore the shoe his name was Mike,
The horse that wore the shoe his name was Mike,
The horse that wore the shoe,
The horse that wore the shoe,
The horse that wore the shoe his name was Mike.
Notes from Sandburg:
Railroad switchmen at Illinois and Iowa division points sang this on nights in the 1890s when their gloves froze to the coupling pins between coal cars, and it was fun to reach a shanty stove. Paperhangers, icewagon drivers, hash slingers and short order cooks have joined up and sung it on summer evenings for good people gathered under the Chinese lanterns of a 1awn sociable, with ice cream served by the Ladies' Aid Society. . . . Henry Joslyn sets it here as a four-part piece for quartets.
Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry for this song: I Found a Horseshoe DESCRIPTION: "I found a horseshoe, I found a horseshoe, I picked it up and nailed it to a door. And it was rusty and full of nail holes, Good luck 'twill bring you forevermore." "The man who owned the horse he lives in New York." "The horse... his name was Mike"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: horse nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, pp. 382-383, "I Found a Horseshoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10077
File: San382
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Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography The Ballad Index Copyright 2017 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
Recording at American Memory Collection
Also in the Music in Our Country Silver Burdett school songbook.
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