Subject: RE: ADD/Origins: A Bad Half Hour (Badger Clark)
From:
Joe Offer
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 02:51 PM
OK, here are the lyrics from the Tom Russell Cowboy Real album (Philo, 1992) - almost the same as what's posted above. Russell said he wrote a tune to the lyrics many years before he recorded it in 1991.
A BAD HALF HOUR
(Charles Badger Clark, tune by Tom Russell)
Wonder why I feel so restless;
Moon is shinin' still and bright,
Cattle all is restin' easy,
But I just can't sleep tonight.
Ain't no cactus in my blankets,
Don't know why they feel so hard—
'Less it's Warblin' Jim a-singing
"Annie Laurie" out on guard.
"Annie Laurie"—wish he'd quit it!
Couldn't sleep now if I tried.
Makes the night seem big and lonesome,
And my throat feels sore inside.
How my Annie used to sing it!
And it sounded good and gay
Nights I drove her home from dances
When the east was turnin' gray.
Yes, "her brow was like the snowdrift"
And her eyes like quiet streams,
"And her face"—I still can see it
Much too frequent in my dreams;
And her hand was soft and trembly
That night beneath the tree,
When I couldn't help but tell her
She was "all the world to me."
But her folks said I was "shif'less,"
"Wild," "unsettled,"—they were right,
For I leaned to punchin' cattle
And I'm at it still tonight.
And she married young Doc Wilkins—
Oh, my Lord, I took it hard!
Wish that fool would quit his singing
"Annie Laurie" out on guard!
"Annie Laurie"—wish he'd quit it!
Couldn't sleep now if I tried.
Makes the night seem big and lonesome,
My throat feels sore inside.
[instrumental break]
Oh I just can't stand it thinkin'
Of the things that happened then.
Those good times, they're all apast me!
Never seem to come again—
My turn? Sure, I'll come a-runnin'.
Warm me up some coffee, pard—
But I'll stop that fool from singin'
"Annie Laurie" out on guard.
from the CD booklet, Tom Russell Cowboy Real album - some corrections made to coincide with what Russell sings. Russell's tune is reminiscent of "Annie Laurie," but it's certainly not the same tune (Trickett sings the Tom Russell tune, introduced by one verse of "Annie Laurie," and with slightly different lyrics for the "Half Hour" part.
You'll find the original Charles Badger Clark text at http://www.cowboypoetry.com.
It's also in the 1922 edition of Badger Clark's Sun and Saddle Leather, available at Google Books.
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sj
