Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage Coach (Kennedy, Singer)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE PHANTOM STAGE COACH (Kennedy, Singer)
From: GUEST,Mrrzy chez her sister
Date: 27 Jun 09 - 11:17 PM

Hi, I'm amazed I couldn't find this int he Trad.

THE PHANTOM STAGE
from Dean Geitter, I think, ghost ballads

The night stage out of Abilene was wrecked in '65
11 souls were on that coach, not one was left alive
Old timers often shiver when they hear the grisly tale
For they say the devil and his coach were seen along that trail

And the phantom stage goes by
As the vultures circle high
And it's horses scream with fright as it thunders through the night
The phantom stage that haunts the canyon train

Twas a gal the name of Sue that the trouble started through
And a box of golden nuggets, so we're told
She had turned the gambler down and that night was leaving town
So he planned to get the woman and the gold
He waited on the canyon as the light was growing dim
The first shot hit the driver as the coach got to the rim
He dashed the maddened horses but they hadn't far to go
They slipped, and overshot the rim, and disappeared below

And the phantom stage...

At dawn they searched the ground but the wreck was never found
And if you pass that spot you're not alone
For at midnight on the trail, the lost souls tell their tale
And they whisper that the devil took his own

And the phantom stage...

PS: PM if you want it to sing it to you - I can't write music.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 Jun 09 - 11:48 PM

From the hoss opry, "The Phantom Stage"?

Doubt that there is anything 'trad' about it.

Then there's that Vaughan Monroe "The Phantom Stage," sung on his RCA 45, "Vaughan Monroe Sings New Songs of the Old West," released about 1952.
Note the "new."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 Jun 09 - 11:56 PM

On the Monroe 45, the title was "The Phantom Stage-Coach."
Composed by Louis C. Singer, New York.
He also wrote the "Song of the Army Nurse Corps" and the never-to-be-forgotten "I Spoke to Jefferson at Guadalcanal."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage
From: GUEST,mrr
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 12:01 AM

The version I know is I believe by Dean Gitter on either Ghost or Murder ballads. The other "G" singer did either murder or ghost ballads...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 12:25 AM

Not much to go on- can't find a Dean(e) Gitter or Geitter as song writer or singer.

There is a "Phantom Stage" by Steven Webb; Jimmy Kennedy and Louis Singer are composers of the "Phantom Stage Coach" on the Monroe album.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 12:41 AM

Mrrzy chez her sister

Thank You for the contribution - I find it interesting.

As a point of discussion ... (for the US audience - as opposed to the Richard Bridge in the UK solicitor's legal restrictions on educational "fare/fair use")

Where-How-When did YOU become acquainted with the song and WHY did you take the effort to memorize it?

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Ignore Q - perhaps he/she/it is one of the "Folk Nazi" types that Max referred to in his recent interview....POST MORE - Lots and Lots of the collection is NOT "Trad" in the "Q or Richard B sense" - but they were collected by Dick and Susan and became the foundation...of what we do like in America.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 01:46 AM

Aw, Garg, I wouldn't call Q a "Folk Nazi." I know him well and he's a pleasure to work with. He's very serious about the accuracy of information provided here, and that's a very good thing. The real "Folk Nazis" are the ones who like to make a lot of noise, but rarely know much.

Jimmy Kennedy is a very notable person. His name comes up frequently around here, and his songs are always interesting.

• Teddy Bears' Picnic
  
• Red Sails in the Sunset
  
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
  
• South of the Border
  
• We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line
  
• The Isle of Capri
• Hokey Pokey (authorship controversial)

Looks like the song is registered at the Harry Fox Agency as "The Phantom Stage Coach," by L. Singer and J. Kennedy. There's a recording by the Doo-Wop group, the Ravens, here (click). Also recorded by Vaughan Monroe, of course - but I think the clip of the recording by The Ravens is better.

Mrrr, did you offer to call and sing this for me?
-Joe- [phone]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 09:23 AM

From Gracenote.com:

Track: 15. PHANTOM STAGE COACH
Artist: Ravens
Album: Their Complete National Recordings 1947-1950

Track: 3. PHANTOM STAGE COACH
Artist: Ravens
Album: Rarities

Track: 23. THE PHANTOM STAGE-COACH
Artist: Vaughn Monroe
Album: The Vaughn Monroe Collection

Track: 3. THE PHANTOM STAGE
Artist: The Rapiers
Album: You're Never Alone With

Track: 29. PHANTOM STAGE
Artist: Kevin Shegog
Album: Ballad of a Hillbilly Singer

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Phantom Stage Coach (Kennedy, Singer)
From: GUEST,Allan MacInnis
Date: 26 Aug 09 - 10:43 AM

My father taught me most of these lyrics (minus the chorus and the first verse) as an alternate version of "Ghost Riders In The Sky." I've searched for it for years - thank y'all! (But I think it's "he lashed his maddened horses," not "dashed.")

A.