The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #14070 Message #887367
Posted By: GUEST,Q
11-Feb-03 - 12:29 AM
Thread Name: Help: houlihan? - Old Paint
Subject: RE: Help: houlihan? - Old Paint
The order of verses in "Old Paint" is uncertain.
In the 1910 version (Lomax), is this verse:
Old Paint's a good pony, he paces when he can;
Goodbye Little Annie, I'm off for Cheyenne.
In the other verses, the singer is leaving Cheyenne.
In 1938, Lomax set the words in 4-line verses. To this one he added the next verse;
Oh, hitch up your horses and feed 'em some hay,
And seat yourself by me so long as you stay.
Lomax added sixteen unattributed lines in 1938 to those printed in 1910, and said that they all came from a "friend of college days" whom he met in Cheyenne as they were attending the 1910 Frontier Days; the song said to have been collected in Oklahoma.
The Cheyenne Frontier Days began in 1897 near old Fort Russell. I have wondered if this is a song about going to and returning from the rodeo. Probably no more unlikely than the Jesse Morris tale.
Lomax says the song was used for the last dance. For a later date, I can verify that from my own 1930s childhood in New Mexico.