The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #78979 Message #2568764
Posted By: Artful Codger
16-Feb-09 - 09:30 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: 'Top Screw' / 'Top Hand'
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Top Screw' / 'Top Hand'
Lomax lifted most (all?) of Thorp's "Songs of the Cowboys" for his own compilation, without permission or recognition, and this is one example. The text is identical to Thorp's ignoring editorial changes, such as punctuation and contractions, with only two exceptions: Last verse, line 3 should read "Wherever he goes, catch on to his game" (not "name", which ends the following line). And Thorp finishes the song with an extra line: Waddie Cow boy.
You can view an OCR transcription of Thorp's (1910) version here.
This note appears in Thorp's 1921 edition (scan at Google Books):
From Jim Brownfield, Crow Flat, New Mexico, winter of 1899. Authorship credited to Frank Rooney; written about 1877. This song has been expurgated by me, as all the old-timers know that as originally sung around the cow-camps it could not have been printed, as it would have burned up the paper on which it was written. Jim, do you remember how you had to force those fresh eggs down and the jug said, "Goo-Goo"? I published this song under the title of "Top Hand" in my earlier edition. The old name, which all cow-punchers remember, did not sound good in print.