RED RIVER SHORE

This is a cowboy song version of "EARL BAND" -- Child #7 This is close to the version printed in 1910 by John Lomax, as sung for him by Mrs. Minta Morgan of Bells, Texas (__Cowboy Songs__ , New York 1910)Alan Lomax used to sing it around, but he sang "bronco" where I sing "broomtail". I changed it to broomtail when a woman from Winfield, Kansas told me that "broomtail" was the way they had sung it as kids. She ought to know since Winfield sits right a-straddle of the old Chisum Trail. I recorded this song on my old LP for Folk Legacy Records __Art Thieme-ON THE WILDERNESS ROAD__ (FSI-105) I still have a few of the vinyl LPs and a bunch of the cassette of this. Either would run you $11.00 (postage included. E-mail: folkart@ivnet.com

ART

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At the foot of yonder mountain where the fountain does flow,
There's a fond creation where the soft winds do blow,
There lived a fair maiden--she's the one I adore,
The one I will marry on the Red River shore.

I asked her old father would he give her to me,
"No, sir, she won't marry no cowboy," said he.
So I jumped on my broomtail and away I did ride,
Leavin' my true love on the Red River side.

She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind,
And in this letter these words you will find,
"Come back to me, darlin', you're the one I adore,
The one I will marry on the Red River shore.

Well, I jumped on my broomtail and away I did ride,
To marry my true love on the Red River Side,
But her dad learned our secret and with twenty and four,
Came to fight this young cowboy on the Red River shore.

I drew my pistol, spun round and around,
Six men were wounded, and seven were down,
No use for an army of twenty and four,
I'm bound for my true love on the Red River shore.

Hard is the fortune of all woman kind,
They're always controlled and they're always confined,
Controlled by their parents until they be wives,
And a slave to their husbands the rest of their lives.

Art Thieme