Lyr Add: Adios (Cowboy)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: ADIOS (Cowboy)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 09:30 PM

Lyr. Add: ADIOS

Posted by Dicho. First printed in "Songs of the Saddlemen," S. Omar Barker, 1954. Reprinted in "Cowboy Poetry," S. Omar Barker, 1998, pp. 196-197, numbered edition, Cowboy Miner Productions, Phoenix. Also in Katie Lee, previous posting by Dicho.
S. Omar Barker, 1894-1985. Asked for a biography, he submitted this doggerel:

Barker born one Junish morn in 1894. (Beulah, New Mexico)
Started riding horses about the age of four.
Raised among the cowfolks of New Mexico, and then
Started writin' yarns about the horseback men.
Forest ranger, soldier, and one-time legislator,
Spanish teacher for a while, but mostly a narrator
Of cowboy stories in a hundred mags, almost,
Including Ranch Romances and the well-knowh Sat. Eve. Post.
His wife is Elsa Barker, also in the writin' biz.
Their home is in Las Vegas- New Mexico that is.

S. Omar Barker

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: ADIOS (Cowboy)
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 03:18 PM

Chords for "Adios." (note) = ca. 50, 4# 6/8

In a (EM)valley high up in the mountains,
With the wind like a knife on their (B7)cheeks,
They carried ol' Mac to his restin'
When winter lay white on the (EM)peaks.

Katie Lee, Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle, p. 187-188.
Katie Lee places this song in the Third Period of cowboy history ((3) "Third Period. The real cowboys and the real cowboy writers, written with know-how about themselves").

Subject: ADIOS (Cowboy)
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Dec 01 - 03:57 PM

ADIOS

In a valley high up in the mountains,
With the wind like a knife on their cheeks
They carried Old Mac to his resting,
When winter white lay on the peaks.

Behind come his fav'rite ol' pony,
Led slow by an ol' Spanish friend.
The saddle and chaps, they was empty-
Ol' Mac's trail had come to its end.

There wasn't no fancy procession-
Just cowboys and Injuns and such-
Plain men of the saddle and mountains,
And nobody said very much.

Ol' Doughbelly Price done the preachin',
Astride of his cream-yaller hoss.
All he said was a few words and simple
About Mac, the ol' wagonboss.

"We've not come slicked up for a show-off,
We've not brought no preacher to pray.
My words won't be fancy ones, neither,
For Mac wouldn't want it that way.

"We all of us knew Mac McMullen,
I couldn't say more if I'd try.
He was one of our own, but he's left us.
We've gathered to tell him goodbye.

The range that he rode was a wide one,
His friendships was many and deep;
So now that his saddle is empty,
God rest him at ease in his sleep!"

'Twas thus near old Taos in the mountains,
With the winter-white peaks looming close,
They carried a MAN to his resting,
And quietly said, "Adios!"

S. Omar Barker, first sung by Jenny Wells Vincent in 1959 in Taos, NM. Published by Barker in "Songs of The Saddlemen." Mac McMullen was real, a friend of Barker's.
The first snows always remind me of this song. Snow can come early in Taos; at the "big do" on San Ildefonso Day at Taos Pueblo, Sept. 30, snow may already be on the ground.
Reprinted with music by Katie Lee, "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle," 1976, p. 29-30; 187-188.
@cowboy @lament