Lyr Add: The Cowboy (2) (from Margaret Larkin)

Subject: RE: Add Lyr. The Cowboy (2)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 17 Jul 03 - 01:31 AM

Lomax and Lomax, 1938, in the revised "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads," provide two tunes for "The Cowboy," pp. 67-70 Neither is "Dreary Black Hills."
They leave "Dreary Black Hills" out of this volume.

Subject: RE: Add Lyr. The Cowboy (2)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 03:47 PM

"The Cowboy" was published by John A. Lomax in "Cowboy Songs, 1910, pp. 96-99, with music ('by The Kid').

The "Dreary Black Hills" was published in the same volume by Lomax, pp. 177-182, with entirely different music.

As often with Lomax songs, no indication of where they came from is given. He republished "Dreary Black Hills" in "American Ballads and Folk Songs," but not "The Cowboy."

Subject: RE: Add Lyr. The Cowboy (2)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 03:31 PM

The lyrics as given are identical to those in Larkin, pp. 132-134, with music, the words obtained from Ruth Bell, the music "an old English tune."

Sung "at a gentle lope," 6/8
(Gm)All day long on the (D7) prairies I (Gm)ride
Not even a hound dog to (D7)trot by my side,
My (Gm)fire it is kindled with (Cm)chips gathered (D7)'round,
I (Gm)boil my own coffee with (D7)out being (Gm)ground,
I (F7)wash in a pool and I (Bb)wipe on a sack,
I (F7)carry my wardrobe (Bb)all on my back,
For (Cm)want of an oven I (Gm)cook in a pot,
For (Bb)want of a bed I (D7)sleep on a cot.

Larkin says that the song "is often sung to a gayer melody- a corruption of the first four phrases of this one."

Stewie posted two versions of this song in the thread 24775, Lyr. Req. Yippie Kye Aye...: The Cowboy
One is from Ed McCurdy, "Song of the West," Astor Gold Star Series GGS 908.
The other is from Glenn Ohrlin, "Cowboy Songs," Philo LP 1017.

Glenn Ohrlin has two versions of the song (different music for each) in "The Hell-Bound Train, A Cowboy Songbook," 1973, Univ. Illinois Press, pp. 156-158. These are similar to those posted by Stewie 13 Aug. 2000, and never harvested.

Subject: RE: Add Lyr. The Cowboy (2)
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 02:51 PM

If Gerard is correct about the tune - see DT tunefile DREARBLK

Subject: Lyr Add: THE COWBOY (2) (from Margaret Larkin)
From: Gerard
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 02:42 PM

THE COWBOY (2)

All day long on the prairies I ride,
Not even a hound dog to trot by my side,
My fire it is kindled with chips gathered 'round,
I boil my own coffee without being ground,
I wash in a pool and I wipe on a sack,
I carry my wardrobe all on my back,
For want of an oven I cook in a pot,
For want of a bed I sleep on a cot.

My ceiling is the sky, my floor is the grass,
My music the lowing of herd as they pass,
My books are the brooks, my sermons the stones,
My parsons the wolf on his big pile of bones,
My books teach me ever consistence to prize,
My sermons, that small things I should not despise,
My parson remarks from his pulpit of bones,
That Heaven helps them that looks after their own.

Between me and my love lies a gulf very wide,
Some luckier fellow may make her his bride,
My friends gently hint I am coming to grief,
But men must make money and women have beef.
Abraham emigrated in search of a range,
When water was scarce he wanted a change;
Old Isaac owned cattle in charge of Esau,
And Jacob punched cows for his father-in-law.

Notes: I first heard this on the CD "Cowboy Songs Of The Old West" by Alan Lomax and Ed McCurdy; it is sung by McCurdy. I've also heard it by Burl Ives somewhere, probably one of his American Heritage collections from the early 1960's. I believe the air is the same as Dreary Black Hills, the lyrics are found in "SINGING COWBOY - A BOOK OF WESTERN SONGS" Collected and Edited by Margaret Larkin, 1931, 1963; pp 131-134.