Origins: The Family Tree (George Mitchell)

Subject: Origins: My Dad Was a Famous Two Gunman
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 11:45 AM

Trying to track down the origin of this song. My mother and stepfather used to sing it, and since they weren't exactly folkie types, and since it feels like a self-conscious parody, I suspect it has tin pan alley rather than folk origins.

Here's the first verse:

My dad was a famous two gunman
Perhaps you'll remember his name
As Loose-Trigger Pete he could shoot mighty neat
Till a piker roped in on his game
A rustler he was by profession
Till one of his pals spilled the dope
and Dad paid his fine at the foot of a pine
at the end of a hundred foot rope

Subject: RE: Origins: My Dad Was a Famous Two Gunman
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Aug 08 - 01:04 AM

I used Google Book Search to search for the phrases "My dad was a famous two gun man" (note "gun man" is two words or possibly hyphenated) and "As Loose-Trigger Pete" and I found that both phrases can be found in:

The Judge [an American humor magazine]. New York, N.Y.: Judge Publishing Company, v. 82, Jan-June 1922.

WorldCat might help you find it in a library near you.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FAMILY TREE (George Mitchell)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Apr 09 - 12:40 AM

I got it! Pieced together from several "snippets" at Google Books. (See the link above.)



THE FAMILY TREE
(George Mitchell)

My dad was a famous two-gun man.
I'm sure you remember his name:
As Loose-Trigger Pete,
He could shoot awful neat
When a piker nosed in on his game.

A rustler he was by perfeshion,
Till one of his pals spilled his dope,
An' Dad paid his fine
From the branch of a pine
At the end of a hundred foot rope.

His father before him was clever
In his little amachure way;
Cards was his style,
An' he laid by a pile
As a dealer in ol' Santa Fe.

But he shuffled 'em jes once too often:
They caught him one night with th' goods;
An' although he was hung,
We are proud that he swung
From the prettiest pine in the woods.

An' so if I say it as shouldn't,
I come from a famous ol' line;
So you'll understand
Why this mornin' I stand
At the foot of a wide-spreadin' pine.

They got me fer stoppin' th' mail coach;
Yes, jes' once too often for me,
But dad and his dad
When they see, will be glad
That I swing from the family tree.