Fife and Fife, 1966, in "Songs of the Cowboys" by Thorp offer a composite text taken from "several hundred possible choices," pp. 154-160. It includes a number of verses of which I would like to find the rest of the song. Anyone know them?

1. (6.4) Says "Come dear mother, mother, an' seat yourself nigh me
Come dear father too, and sing me a song
Tell them to bring 'long a bunch of them sweet-smellin' roses
So they can't smell me while they drive me along.

2. (9.) Oh, bury beside me my knife and six-shooter,
My spurs on my heel, my rifle by my side,
And over my coffin put a bottle of brandy
That the cowboys may drink as they carry me along.

3. Over my coffin put handfuls of lavender,
Handfuls of lavender on evry side,
Bunches of roses all over my coffin
Saying "There goes a cowboy cut down in his pride."

4. (12.1)Then drag your rope slowly and rattle your spurs lowly,
And give a wild whoop as you carry me along;
And take me to Boot Hill and cover me with roses,
I'm just a young cowboy and I know I done wrong.

Leading an unmounted horse with a rope dragging behind was a custom in some areas at a cowman's funeral.

() numbers from Fife and Fife. Probably these are in their notes only, but there is a chance someone has the odd one in a songbook.

---

Multiple threads combined to avoid splitting the discussion. Messages below are from a new thread.