From The Traditional Ballad Index: Roundup in the Spring:

Roundup in the Spring

DESCRIPTION: A group of cowboys meet in a hotel and swap tales. An old man listens eagerly. He was a cowboy, too, and recalls the work. He concludes, "I'd like to be in Texas for the roundup in the spring."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: cowboy age work
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 20, "Roundup in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11309
RECORDINGS:
Leon Chappelear "I'd Like to Be In Texas (For the Roundup in the Spring)" (Champion 45068, c. 1935; Montgomery Ward M-4950, 1936)
Vernon Dalhart "I'd Like to Be In Texas" (Vocalion 5044, 1926)
Bradley Kincaid "I'd Like to Be In Texas" (Decca 12053, n.d.)
[Asa] Martin & [James] Roberts, "The Roundup in the Spring" (Perfect 12906/Melotone 12642 [as by Asa Martin], 1933; on WhenIWas1)
File: Ohr020

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Bibiography
Go to the Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2007 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. .......................................................

From John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, revised and enlarged (Macmillan, 1938; tenth printing 1959, pp. 321-323; with music)

I'D LIKE TO BE IN TEXAS WHEN THEY ROUND-UP IN THE SPRING*

*From "Texas and Southwestern Lore" (Publications of the Texas Folk-Lore Society, Vol. VI). Editor J. Frank Dobie in an article "Ballads and Songs of the Frontier Folk" says that he found two lines in an unpublished play of Mr. Andy Adams. When he requested the full version, Mr. Adams sent him two stanzas and the chorus, which he had obtained fifteen years previously from W.E. Hawks, a ranchman now living in Burlington, Vt. However, he claimed to be resposible for most of the second stanza. Later Mr. Dobie obtained from Lou Fishback, who was singing and selling the song in a Fort Worth hotel lobby, a printed copy of two stanzas and chorus. The third stanza is the one composed by Mr. Adams.

In the lobby of a big hotel, in New York town one day,
Sat a bunch of fellows telling yarns to pass the time away.
They told the places where they'd been and different sights they'd seen;
Some of them preferred Chicago town and others New Orleans.
In a corner in an old arm chair sat a man whose hair was grey;
He listened to them eagerly, to what they had to say.
They asked him where he'd like to be; his clear old voice did ring:
"I'd like to be in Texas when they round-up in the spring."

Refrain:
"I can see the cattle grazing o'er the hills at early morn;
I can see the campfires smoking at the breaking of the dawn;
I can hear the broncos neighing; I can hear the cowboys sing.
I'd like to be in Texas when they roun-dup in the spring."

They all sat still and listened to each word he had to say;
They knew the old man sitting there had once been young and gay.
They asked him for a story of his life upon the plains.
He slowly then removed his hat and quietly thus began:
"I've seen them stampede o'er the hills until you'd think they'd never stop;
I've seen them run for miles and miles until their leaders drop.
I was a foreman on a cow ranch--the callin of a king.
I'd like to be in Texas when they round-up in the spring.

"There's a grave in sunny Texas where Mollie Deming sleeps,
'Mid a grove of mossy live oaks that constant vigil keeps.
In my heart's a recollection of a long, long bygone day
When we rode the range together like truant kids astray.
Her gentle spirit calls me in the watches of the night,
And I hear her laughter freshening the dew of early light.
Yes, I was foreman of that cow ranch--the calling of a king,
And I'd like to be in Texas when they round-up in the spring."

Glenn Ohrlin says: "Vernon Dalhart recorded 'Roundup in the Spring' on November 1, 1926. My copy of this record gives composer credit to Copeland, although it is possible this was added at a later pressing. The song was first printed in sheet music copyrighted in 1927 by Lou Fishback (Fort Worth, Tex.); Carl Copeland and Jack Williams were listed as co-writers. The following year, the Texas Folklore Society printed an article by J. Frank Dobie, who claimed it was an old song he had obtained from Andy Adams." (The Hell-Bound Train, p. 256)

~Masato