Here are a couple of versions of a beautiful cowboy love song. Does anyone have any information about its origins? Is it a traditional song or another example of what Slim Critchlow called 'handwritten songs' that passed into tradition? The first version is that sung by Frank Hamilton. I got the lyrics from Roger McGinn's site Click. The second version is my transcription from a Slim Critchlow recording.

THE BRAZOS RIVER
(Traditional ?)

The cool Angelina runs lofty and gliding
The crooked Colorado runs weaving and winding
The Red River runs rusty, the Wichita clear
But Down by the Brazos, I courted my dear

I la lie lee lee lee give me your hand
I la lie lee lee lee give me your hand
I la lie lee lee lee give me your hand
There's many a river that waters the land

She hugged me and she kissed me
And she called me her dandy
The Brazos is muddy,
And sometimes quick sandy

She hugged me and she kissed me
And called me her own
But down by the Brazos
She left me alone

Now the girls of them rivers
They're plump and they're pretty
The Supine and the Sulfur
Have many a beauty

I may wander the rivers
And many a shore,
But down by the Brazos
I'll wander no more

I la lie lee lee lee give me your hand
I la lie lee lee lee give me your hand
I la lie lee lee lee give me your hand
There's many a river that waters the land X2

---

The following is my transcription from Slim Critchlow.

THE BRAZOS RIVER
(Traditional ?)

We crossed the wild Pecos, we forded the Nueces
We swum the Guadalupe, we followed the Brazos
Red River runs rusty, the Witchita clear
But it's down by the Brazos I courted my dear

Lie, lie, lie, lee lily give me your hand
Lie, lie, lie, lee lily give me your hand
Lie, lie, lie lee lily give me your hand
There's a-many a river that waters the land

The fair Angelina runs glossy and gliding
The crooked Colorado runs weaving and winding
And the slow San 'tonio courses the plains
But I never will walk by the Brazos again

Sing lie, lie, lie, lee lily pull the boat on
Lie, lie, lie, lee lily, pull the boat on
Lie, lie, lie lee lily, pull the boat on
My Brazos River sweetheart has left me and gone

She kissed me, she hugged me, she called me her dandy
Oh the Trinity's muddy and the Brazos quick sandy
She kissed me, she hugged me, she called me her own
But down by the Brazos, she left me alone

Lie, lie, lie, lee lily give me your hand
Lie, lie, lie, lee lily give me your hand
Lie, lie, lie lee lily give me your hand
The Trinity's muddy and the Brazos quick sand

The girls of Little River they're plump and they're pretty
The Sabine and the Sulfur have many a beauty
On the banks of the Nacogdoches are girls by the score
But down by the Brazos, I'll wander no more

Sing lie, lie, lie, lee lily give me your hand
Lie, lie, lie, lee lily give me your hand
Lie, lie, lie lee lily give me your hand
There's a-many a river that waters the land

^^ Source: transcribed from Slim Critchlow's Cowboy Songs: The Crooked Trail to Holbrook' Arhoolie CD 479.
PS.
Slim noted that Sam Hinton unearthed the song. I would be grateful for confirmation or correction of the river names in this version. However, 'Nacogdoches' is a made-up name by Critchlow. He commented: 'I can only offer my apologies to the state of Texas for inventing one of their rivers. After a long sojourn in Oklahoma, I was perfectly sure that there was a Nacogdoches River, and, liking the ring of the name in preference to Naches (which it was before I tinkered with it), I changed it. Too late now, but let that be a lesson to me!'

--Stewie.