The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #6609   Message #38588
Posted By: GW
19-Sep-98 - 03:42 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Leaving Old Texas / I'm Going to Leave...
Subject: Leaving Old Texas
I was reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck when I came across this passage.... (p.257 by my copy)

"And perhaps a man brought out his guitar to the front of his tent. And he sat on a box to play, and everyone in the camp moved slowly in toward him, drawn in toward him. Many men can chord a guitar, but perhaps this man was a picker. There you have something- the deep chords beating, beating, while the melody runs on the strings like little footsteps. Heavy hard fingers marching on the frets. The man played and the people moved slowly in on him until the circle was closed and tight, and then he sang, "Ten Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat." And the circle sang with him. And he sang, "Why Do You Cut Your Hair, Girls?" And the circle sang. He wailed the song, "I'm Leaving Old Texas," that eerie song that was sung before the Spaniards came, only the words were Indian then."

Does anyone know where I could find a recording of this ancient American folk song called "I'm Leaving Old Texas?"