Lyr Add: Old Shep (Red Foley)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (Red Foley)
From: kendall
Date: 17 Jul 10 - 09:02 AM

I always thought Old Shep was the saddest dog song ever until I heard Slim Dusty sing Old Gilbert.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: open mike
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 01:29 PM

of course in my first post Shep i meant to say the statue
had been dedicated (not deficated) although it may have been peed
on a few times....by dogs, and???

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: open mike
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 01:22 PM

When Ramblin' Jack Elliot introduces this song he says it is the fave
song of his dog Cesar, who he claims used to help him drive when on tour.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2172043991928853919
(note the extra verses in teh video)
http://ramblinjack.com/

and i just remembered the statue is in Ft. Benton Montana
and is the dog of a sheepherder...which is what "Sheps"
are the best at...http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/4367
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/pet/shep.html
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1MF4
http://www.gis.net/~shepdog/BC_Museum/Changing/SheepDogMemorials/Monuments.html

there is another story about a dog in silverton oregon..Bobbie

and there is Grey friar's Bobbie...disney made a movie about him
http://www.greyfriarsbobby.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: goatfell
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 09:45 AM

aye and Elvis didn't like Only the Lonely, but he like this

I mean what did he know about music, he sang some crap did he not, I like the song because I like singing some crappy stuff as well

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 12:29 PM

Right story/wrong venue.

http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2032209

He was a Post Office mascot.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 12:27 PM

Open Mike,
There was a "railroad" dog who turned up as a stray one day. The trainmaster adopted it and the dog road the rails for years as a celebrity. It even went to Europe and was presented to the Queen if I remember right.
Back in the states it was shot by a railroad employee who thought it was a stray.
I will have to see where I found this story. If I am right, the Smithsonian has the dog's remains.
All very vague but I will search. Might be your puppy.
Mary

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: GUEST,dave in Ca
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 11:55 AM

wow    cant believe I found the words to this song my mom used to sing it to me 30 years ago and she has since forgotten it. she'll be touched to hear me sing it to her.    thanks,    dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 05 May 03 - 02:46 AM

Sorry, info duplicated; I missed Joe's post.

Red's daughter, Betty Foley Cummins, says: "When my father was a young boy, he had a German shepherd dog named Hoover. He lived to be around 18 or 20 years old. He was poisoned by a neighbor who didn't like the dog, and Daddy found him in a field behind the house. 'Old Shep' was written about Hoover." (Dorothy Horstman, Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, rev. 3rd ed., p. 87)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: open mike
Date: 05 May 03 - 02:34 AM

i am sure i saw a statue deficated to some dog
(Shep?) who was a hero to the people in that town.
Perhaps it belonged to a hobo who was killed in
a train wreck, or some equally sad situation.
anyone know what town that might be in? It was
bronze, and mounted on a rock you had to climb
up on to see, as I recall. It seemed like it was
a border collie..

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 05 May 03 - 02:16 AM

Written by Red Foley and Willis Arthur, copyrighted in 1933.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 05 May 03 - 02:11 AM

Red Foley's song (which is at The Record Lady's All-Time Country Favorites; click on "Real Country Archives Page 8"), and Elvis Presley's favorite (click here for his lyrics).

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 May 03 - 02:06 AM

My usual sources don't have songwriter and copyright information for this song. Anybody know its history?
The recording I remember is the one by Elvis Presley.
Here it is - written by Red Foley and Willis Arthur, 1933.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: kendall
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 08:11 PM

When I was 4 years old, the family dog saved me from drowning... Years later, I recorded this song on the Folk Legacy label (Lights along the shore)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: Mark Clark
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 08:07 PM

Doug asked for the lyrics in the thread on the saddest song of all. You'll find a large number of them mentioned there. I posted "Old Shep" to a new thread only so it would be easily identifiable as a new entry for the DT data base.

Please don't start another sad song thread, add to the one that's already going.

- Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Old Shep (for Doug)
From: Metchosin
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 07:42 PM

Is Doug collecting tear jerkers? 'cause I have a lot more as well.

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD SHEP
From: Mark Clark
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 07:12 PM

Some years ago---like maybe 25 or 30---I walked into a music store in Skokie, Ill. and there, behind the counter, sat Jethro Burns. He was leaning his chair back on two legs and absent mindedly strumming chords on one of the proprieter's stock mandolins. In the course of our conversation I asked him if he knew the words to Red Foley's classic tune "Old Shep." His expression changed and his eyes got big, *"OLD SHEP???"* he exclaimed, and nearly fell off his chair laughing. He couldn't believe anyone was actually looking for the words to that song.

I think this is a faithful reproduction. Please correct them if it is not.

OLD SHEP
(written by Red Foley and Willis Arthur, 1933)

When I was a lad and old Shep was a pup,
Over hills and meadows we'd stray,
Just a boy and his dog, we were so full of fun,
We grew up together that way.
(bridge)
I remember the time at the old swimming hole,
When I would have drowned beyond doubt,
But old Shep was right there, to the rescue he came,
He jumped in and helped pull me out.

The years fast did roll and old Shep he grew old,
His eyes were fast growing dim,
And one day the doctor looked at me and said,
"I can do no more for him, Jim."
(bridge)
With hands that were tremblin, I picked up my gun,
And aimed it at Shep's faithful head,
I just couldn't do it, I wanted to run,
I wished they would shoot me instead.

He came to my side and looked up at me,
And laid his old head on my knee,
I stroked the best friend a man ever had,
I cried so I scarcely could see.
(bridge)
Now old Shep he is gone where the good doggies go,
No more with old Shep will I roam,
But if dogs have a Heaven, there's one thing I know,
Old Shep has a wonderful home.



I'm sure this is available on record by a number of people but I think Red Foley's is the original. Elvis Presley put this song on what I belive was his first LP album ("Elvis") along with a rocked-up version of Bill Monroe's classic "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again."

- Mark