The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #169973 Message #4109670
Posted By: Lighter
11-Jun-21 - 07:48 AM
Thread Name: Origins: The Southern Soldier
Subject: ADD: Going to the Mexican War
A. P. Hudson's "Folksongs of Mississippi" has:
GOING TO THE MEXICAN WAR
I'll take my knapsack on my back,
My rifle on my shoulder,
I'm going away to the Mexican war,
I'm going to be a soldier.
The streets are lined with $10 bills,
The girls are sweet as candy,
Coffee grows on white-oak trees,
And the rivers run with brandy.
Kind of like the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
Jean Ritchie's "Singing Family of the Cumberlands" has nearly identical verses as part of a play-party version of "Old King Cole."
And see this thread:
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=31537
In fact, most versions have "Mexican war," "Mexico," "New Orleans," or "the old Rio Grande." Joh Hartford sang a verse (learned, possibly, from a recording of W. Va. fiddler Ed Haley [1885-1951]) that said, "I'm going down to Shiloh."