I think it's worthwhile to post the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index.
-Joe Offer-
Tune The Old Cow Died On, The
DESCRIPTION: "The old cow might have been living yet, A-chewin' her cud with glee, If Farmer John hadn't sung of this song...." Farmer John sings, the cows gather in surprise. The old cow tries to join in, and it kills her
AUTHOR: Joseph E. Winner?
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: death animal farming music humorous
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 411, "The Tune the Old Cow Died On" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 1 tune -- although the "C" fragment does not appear related to the first two)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 352-354, "The Tune the Old Cow Died On" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 411A)
Roud #4352
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Tune the old cow died on" (AFS 4212 A2, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Notes: Carl Sandburg wrote in 1936, "A man having nothing to feed his cow sang to her of the fresh green grass to come; this is the tune the old cow died on." One suspects that this phrase was part of popular idiom, and someone created a song to explain it.
Cohen reports an 1880 copyright of a song with this title, credited to George Russell Jackson and Eastburn (Joseph E. Winner), but adds that the song "must date from the 1850s or 1860s." He does not, however, give evidence for this claim. - RBW
File: R411Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index InstructionsThe Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
Here's the entry from Folktrax.org:TUNE THE OLD COW DIED OF, THE - "Farmer Brown from his work came home" - ROUD#4352 - SHARP Ms "Umbrella Courtship" ("Bill & his beau") --- FLANDERS Garland of Green Mountain Song 1934 pp22-3 - RANDOLPH, Ozark Folk Songs 3 1948 pp148-9 - Family Herald & Weekly Star (Montreal) Old Favourites section 4 Dec 1952 - COHEN 101 FS for Camp p51 - FOWKE Ring Around the Moon pp34-5 -- HAYMAKERS Band: 324 "Winster Gallop" --- Warde FORD rec by Sydney Robertson Cowell, Boomtown, Calif 1939: Library of Congress: Archive of American Folk Culture 4212 A2 (click)- Lena Bourne FISH rec by Frank & Anne Warner, USA 1940: 922