Lyr/Tune Req: Where the Silv'ry Colorado Wends...

Subject: WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WINDS IT'S WAY
From: M. SPECK
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 01:35 AM

LOOKING FOR WORDS AND MUSIC TO A SONG TITLED"WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WINDS IT'S WAY"

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WI
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 03:10 AM

My sister probably has the sheet music for it. I will email her and ask. If not, my dad probably knows it. Might take a couple of days.

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WI
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 03:21 AM

Well, I should've done this check, first! If you will go to the top of the page and click on where it says Links, then follow that to the Lester Levy Collection, you will find the sheet music for this song. You will have to know to type in "Box 059 Item # 147"; OR, if you do a search with just the word "colorado", it comes up about 5th, or so, in a list of songs about Colorado.

If you have any trouble, just holler. You can order a copy of the orginal sheet music from them. When I've done so, there was a $3 charge. Or, you cna print out each page from their site and blow itup on a copy machine.

Have fun and welcome to the Mudcat.

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WI
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 05:00 PM

Thanks, Kat, m'luv! That's a song my mother used to sing and one that I'd almost lost from my memory (except for the final line). Now I can re-learn it! And thanks to M. Speck for bringing it up.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WI
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 06:29 PM

Yer welcome, Sandydarlin'. My mom and dad used to sing this, too. One of those good ole' Victorian parlour tearjerkers if I remember right.

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WI
From: Art Thieme
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 11:49 PM

well...I don't know where I might've picked this up. Sort o' like herpes.

"WHERE THE SILVER COLORADO WENDS IT'S WAY"
or
"THE SUCKERS SADLY GATHER"
by Richard Brazier (from the 3rd edition of the I.W.W. Little Red Songbook

The suckers sadly gather 'round the Red Cross office door,
And at the job sign longingly they gaze,
They think it's time they shipped out to a job once more,
For they haven't bought a job for several days,
So inside they go and they put down their dough,
"We have come to buy a job from you," they say,
The employment shark says, "Right; I will ship you out tonight,
Where the silvery Colorado wends it's way."

Chorus)
Now those suckers by the score are a-hiking back once more,
For they didn't get no job out there they say,
So to town they're hiking back o'er the old bum railroad track,
Where the silvery Colorado wends it's way.

The hobos quietly gather round a distant water tank,
While the bulls are safely resting home in bed,
And they sadly sit and ponder on the days that they ate pies,
And occasionally some moldy punk instead,
But now they're livin' high when a chicken coop in nigh,
For the ranchers send them chicken every day,
So to the jungles they skidoo to dine on chicken stew,
Where the silvery Colorado wends it's way.

chorus)
There's a 'bo neath every tree and they're happy as can be,
For the chewings 'round that place are good they say,
For they have chicken galore and they know where there is more,
Where the silvery Colorado wends it's way.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WI
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 01:15 AM

Way to go, Art! Now I'm gonna have to dig out my copy of the Little Red Songbook and check the date, so I can add to your thread about it. Keep fannin' them flames! I'm reading Denisoff's right now.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: WHERE THE SILVERY COLORADO WI
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 01:17 AM

That's Denisoff's book: Great Day Coming. (Don't know how I did THAT!)

Sandy

Subject: Lyr Add: WHERE THE SILV'RY COLORADO WENDS ITS WAY
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Mar 04 - 10:52 PM

In case it isn't obvious, the version posted by Art Thieme above is a parody. This is the original.

From the sheet music at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

WHERE THE SILV'RY COLORADO WENDS ITS WAY
(Words, C. H. Scoggins. Music, Charles Avril. 1901.)

The twilight softly gathers 'round my home among the hills,
And all nature soon will settle down to rest,
While I sit and sadly ponder and my heart with longing fills
As I often think of one that I loved best.
We were wedded in the June-time and our hearts then knew no pain.
Fair nature seemed to smile on us that day.
Now she sleeps beneath the lilacs and she'll ne'er come back again
Where the silv'ry Colorado wends its way.

CHORUS: There's a sob on ev'ry breeze, and a sigh comes from the trees,
And the meadowlark now croons a sadder lay;
For the sunlight plays no more 'round my cheerless cabin door
Where the silv'ry Colorado wends its way.

The silv'ry snow is gleaming on yon distant mountain side
Where we often used to wander, Nell and I;
And the birds are gaily singing in the valley far below,
Where I long some day to lay me down and die.
Then our lives were gay and happy in the shadow of the hills.
My heart beat fonder for her day by day;
And I feel her presence near me as I sit alone tonight
Where the silv'ry Colorado wends its way.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Where the Silvery Colorado...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Mar 04 - 07:18 AM

WHERE THE SILV'RY COLORADO WENDS ITS WAY was recorded by The Leake Country Revelers and is available on the album "Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Vol. 2: 1929-1930" CD Document 8030, 1998.

Another version by The Carter Family was recorded in 1936.

There was also a recording by Vernon Dalhart.

To find all the versions with a search engine, you will need to try the alternate spellings SILVERY and WINDS.

Gene Autry recorded a song called WHEN THE SILVERY COLORADO TURNS TO GOLD, but I don't know if it's related.