The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #47889   Message #717567
Posted By: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
26-May-02 - 12:34 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Fiddler's Green (John Conolly)
Subject: Lyr Add: TARPAULIN JACKET (Carl Sandburg)
TARPAULIN JACKET (Sandburg)

Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket
And say a poor buffer lies low, low, low;
And six stalwart lancers shall carry me
With steps mournful, solemn and slow.
I know I shan't get to heaven,
And I don't want to go below--ow--ow.
Oh, ain't there some place in between them
Where this poor buffer can go?

A brief variant of the one in the DT, from Sandburg, p. 436-437, The American Songbag, 1927. Frank Haworth, British Club, Havana.
Why this is included in Sandburg is open to question. Americans would be more likely to use "duffer" or "bastard."