I checked the version in Ozark Folksongs and it's almost the same as what Jim Dixon posted from the sheet music. One verse in Ozark Folksongs is in a different place, where it doesn't quite seem to fit; and the chorus is sung after every two lines. The Digital Tradition version is from Pound's American Ballads and Folk Songs. I looked for the song there, but I found that twenty pages are missing from the library-reject copy I bought for $1.50 (at that price, I can't complain). Can anybody check Pound and see if we have an accurate transcription?
-Joe Offer-
Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:
Baggage Coach Ahead, The
DESCRIPTION: The passengers on the train are awakened by a child's cries. They complain to the child's father. He tells them that the child's mother is dead "in the baggage coach ahead." Upon learning this, the passengers turn helpful
AUTHOR: Gussie L. Davis?
EARLIEST DATE: 1898
KEYWORDS: family children mother death train
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph 704, "The Baggage Coach Ahead" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 58, pp. 131-132, "The Baggage Coach Ahead" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 155-156, "In the Baggage Coach Ahead" (fragmentary text, partial tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 173-178, "In the Baggage Coach Ahead" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3529
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "The Baggage Coach Ahead" (Okeh 7006)
Vernon Dalhart, "In the Baggage Coach Ahead" (Columbia 15028-D, c. 1925) (Edison 51557 [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.], 1925) (Supertone 9248, 1928) (Perfect 12644, 1930) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5011 [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.], n.d.)
George Gaskin, "In the Baggage Coach Ahead" (CYL: Collumbia 4080, c. 1898)
George Reneau, "The Baggage Coach Ahead" (Vocalion 14918, 1924)
Ernest Thompson, "In The Baggage Coach Ahead" (Columbia 216-D, 1924)
Notes: Said to be based on the real-life story of Dr. James B. Watson and family. Watson's daughter Nellie was born in 1867, and the girl's mother died in 1869. Watson was taking his wife's body back to her home in Pennsylvania when the events described took place.
On the other hand, Spaeth notes that Charles K. Harris wrote a song "Is Life Worth Living," with almost the same plot some years before Davis produced "Baggage Coach." Whether based on an actual incident or not, the idea amply met the nineteenth century demand for tearjerkers. - RBW
File: R704Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index InstructionsThe Ballad Index Copyright 2003 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.