Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie

Subject: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 08:43 AM

What is with this song? Can some expert tell me where it comes from? I have two versions of it -- Carl T. Sprague from the 1920's and Michael Murphey's recent version -- not to mention other versions in my head. But I suddenly realized that it is totally weird musically (dare I say modal, or something). One note I have says that it comes from an earlier song about an ocean burial. So:

1) Can anyone enlighten me about its origins?
2) I seem to have two or maybe three different chordal patterns (either some version of G and Em, or one with a chorus in a different pattern) in the folkmusic books I have. Can anyone say anything about the music that would help one get a grip on how to play this thing?
3) Anyone have any other good recorded versions they would recommend?
4) Did I mention how weird (including scary) this old familiar song is?

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Gary T
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 09:24 AM

I don't know much about it, but I recall a western-song group at Winfield (Bluestem, I believe) explaining that the sentiment had to do with the feeling that the wide open spaces were an awful place to be stuck alone for eternity. Presumably the corpse-to-be was from a densely populated area, perhaps a European immigrant, who found the desolation of the prairie to be eerie and unsettling, and wanted his final resting place to be one he felt more comfortable with.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: harpgirl
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 09:32 AM

...a favorite photograph of mine, taken of Gertrude Stein at Bilignin in the later years, has her sitting on the garden wall singing from sheet music. I believe it was "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie." Although she wrote a very important Libretto "Four Saints in Three Acts", she was not known for her singing prowess!

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 09:45 AM

There is a later version of the song -- by Carson Robison I think -- called "Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie", the idea being that no true cowboy would object to being buried on the prairie. I assume the tune is the same, but maybe they cheered it up too!!! A classic piece of cleaning up something seriously upsetting. yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Jon W.
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 10:07 AM

As far as recommending recorded versions, I have one by the Deseret String Band that's pretty good--though frankly I haven't heard many others to compare it to. It does seem to be in a minor or other unusual mode.

Subject: Tune Add: BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE
From: Scotsbard
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 11:57 AM

The version recorded by either Tex Ritter or Marty Robbins around 1960 was definitely in a mournful mode of some sort. The album might have been titled "Blood on the Saddle" or "Tall Tales and Short Tempers".

Here's ABCs for that version of the melody, and the chord pattern as best I remember was Dm//F//Dm//F//////Dm//Am/Dm. We used to play this song at beer barns back in the late 70s. Somehow it seems similar to some uptempo celtic fiddle tune but I can't put my finger on which one.

X:1
T:BuryMeNot
C:?
I:Ballad
Q:1/4=150
V:1
K:C
M:C
z2 C2 D2 EE |D8 |z2 CC F3 A, |C8 |
z2 CC D2 E2 |D8 |z2 CC F3 G |A8 |
z2 FG A2 c2 |c8 |z2 AG F2 F2 |A8 |
z2 AG F2 D2 |D8 |z2 ED C3 A, |D8 |]

~S~

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Mbo
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 12:00 PM

Um...I may be stupid, but isn't "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie" the same as "The Streets of Laredo"?

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 12:04 PM

No, Mbo, totally different. (But they are both "cowboy's laments"). yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 12:07 PM

Mbo- don't know about the state of your intelligence, but they're two different songs. Both in DigiTrad

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: KathWestra
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 12:34 PM

My very favorite version of "Bury Me Not" was recorded by Joe Hickerson on the second volume of his two-volume set, "Drive Dull Care Away" (Folk Legacy C-58 and C-59). With the recording, you get the usual copious notes on the song's origins. Joe got the melody and some of the words from the singing of Fields Ward of Galax, Virginia. After being introduced to Fields Ward by Indianapolis musician Pat Dunford, Joe collected Fields Ward's singing for the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song around 1963.

By the way, Peter, I highly recommend both volumes of "Drive Dull Care Away." Great songs, great notes. Just ask Rick Fielding. Kath

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Metchosin
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 12:41 PM

Peter, according to The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).VOLUME XVIII. Later National Literature, Part III, XXVII, Oral Literature, Cowboy Songs, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" is an adaptation of "Ocean Burial" by W.H. Saunders.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Easy Rider
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 12:42 PM

I first found "Bury Me Not..." in the Lomax book. Is this song sometimes called "Cowboy's Lament" or is that yet another, different song?

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Metchosin
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 01:48 PM

It's a different song Easy Rider. "The Cowboy's Lament" or "The Streets of Larado" was based on the The Unfortunate Rake and still retains the odd request for a cowboy requesting a military burial. "Down by the Royal Albion" was variant of the same tune, that my grandfather sang and I think there has been a number of threads on this, linking it to Locke Hospital and St. James Infirmary, although I only know the latter by a different tune than the others.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 02:16 PM

Continuing thanks. Any ideas on "Ocean Burial" by W.H. Saunders? yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Metchosin
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 02:25 PM

Peter, I tried to find some info on "Ocean Burial" and W.H Saunders, for I have no idea of who he or she is, but I'll keep digging.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Metchosin
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 04:13 PM

There was a W.H. Saunders that went down on the Titanic, which would be rather ironic if it was the same W.H. Saunders that wrote the song.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 04:19 PM

Thanks, I appreciate the effort -- I wonder if the tune goes with the song.... yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Metchosin
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 04:32 PM

Peter, "Ocean Burial" is in the Levy Sheet Music collection here published in 1850, but there is no mention of a Mr. Saunders, it is credited to George N. Allan.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Metchosin
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 04:34 PM

link didn't work, just go to Levy and type in Ocean Burial.

Subject: Lyr Add: BURY ME NOT IN THE DEEP DEEP SEA
From: GUEST,radriano
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 07:08 PM

I don't know if this is related or not:

BURY ME NOT IN THE DEEP, DEEP SEA

From the band Nightingale (singer - Keith Murphy)
Adapted from the Peacock Collection


Oh, bury me not in the deep, deep sea
These words came slow and faintly
From the pallid lips of a youth who lay
In his cabin bunk at the close of day

Oh, bury me not in the deep, deep sea
Where the cold dark waves will swallow me
Where no light shall break through the darkening waves
And no sunbeam find my silent grave

He mourned and pined til o'er his brow
Death's shades had slowly crept there now
He wished his home and his loved ones nigh
As the sailors gathered to see him die

Oh, bury me not - his voice failed there
They paid no heed to his dying prayer
They lowered him down o'er the ships dark side
And above him closed the dismal tide

He bore no costly winding sheet
To wrap around his head or feet
They lowered him down where the billows roar
In the deep, deep sea far from the shore

A girl on shore, many tears will shed
For the one who lies on the ocean bed
Above his heart the whale will hiss
And his pallid lips the fish will kiss


Regards,
radriano

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: raredance
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 09:05 PM

This isn't going to directly answer the question, but I found a footnote in Chapter 1 of John I White's "Git Along Little Dogies, Songs and Songmakers of the American West" (University of Illinois Press, 1975) that cites a book by James J Fuld called "The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk (Crown Publishers, 1971). White's footnote says that the "interesting history" of "Oh Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie" is documented in detail in Fuld's book. Anybody close to a big library?

rich r

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: raredance
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 09:26 PM

Making some bits of progress. "Cowboy and Western Songs" by Austin E and Alta S Fife (1969, Creative Concepts Publishing Corporation) has three texts of the song and 2 melodies. One melody is from a library of Congress recording obtained by John Lomax. Interestingly one text is from the Library of Congress manuscripts of Woody Guthrie. The second text is quite long, 20 verses. I will have to compare the three with the one already in the DT to see whether to add one or more. The very brief notes on the song generally agree with the information posted above. They suggest it was a parody of "The Ocean Burial" which they say was copyrighted in 1850 by George N. Allen (see Levy link above). I have also found some alternate information in another source that is rather lengthy and requires some reading, digesting and editing.

rich r

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: raredance
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 09:29 PM

I forgot to add that the Fife book calls the song "The Dying Cowboy"

rich r

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: raredance
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 10:00 PM

More pieces of the puzzle. N Howard "Jack" Thorp published a version of the lyrics in his 1921 edition of "Songs of the Cowboys" (reprint 1984, University of Nebraska Press). He includes 7 verses. Compared with the 9 verse text in the DT, Thorp's verse 1 matches DT v. 1, Thorp v. 4 matches DT v. 4, and Thorp v. 6 matches DT v. 7. Verses 2,3,5 and 7 of Thorp are different from any in the DT. Thorp calls the song "The Dying Cowboy". The Streets of Laredo song is in Thorp as "The Cowboy's Lament" In the header to "The Dying Cowboy (Bury Me Not..) Throp says, "Authroship credited to H. Clemons, Deadwood, Dakota, 1872. I first heard it from Kearn Carico, at Norfolk, Nebraska in 1886."

Annie Laurie Ellis of Uvalde, Texas published the words and musical notation to "Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" in the July/September 1901 issue of the Journal of American Folklore. She included the instructions "All notes should be slurred more or less to give the wailing effect." This was likely the first appearance of a "cowboy" song in scholarly journals and it might be the first publication of both the words and music of a traditional cowboy song in any format. Ms Ellis, unfortunately, had no information on the history or origin of the song.

rich r

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DYING COWBOY (from N. Howard Thorp)
From: raredance
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 10:26 PM

Here are the words from "Songs of the Cowboys" by N Howard Thorp.

THE DYING COWBOY (OH, BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE)

"Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie";
Those words came slow and mournfully
From the pallid lips of a youth that lay
On his dying couch at the close of day.

He had wasted and pined till o'er his brow
Death's shadows fast were drawing now;
He had thought of home and the loved ones nigh,
As the cowboys gathered to see him die.

How oft have I listened to those well-known words,
The wild wind and the sound of birds;
He had thought of home and the cottonwood boughs,
Of the scenes that he loved in his childhood hours.

"I have always wished to be laid, when I died,
In the old churchyard on the green hillside,
By the grave of my father, oh, let my grave be;
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

"I wish to be laid where a mother's care
And a sister's tear can mingle there;
Where friends can come and weep o'er me;
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

"Oh bury me not -" and his voice failed there;
They paid no heed to his dying prayer;
In a narrow grave just six by three,
They laid him there on the lone prairie.

Where the dewdrops fall and the butterfly rests,
The wild rose blooms on the prairie's crest,
Where the coyotes howl and the wind sports free,
They laid him there on the lone prairie.

rich r

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Metchosin
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 11:02 PM

Radriano, your version is a condensed form of "The Ocean Burial" at The Levy Sheet Music Collection here I like yours better, it's less contrived and Victorian.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: DADGBE
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 02:20 AM

My good buddy Radriano made reference to the fact that his Ocean Burial version was recorded by Nightingale. Run, do not walk to find their recording. It's stunningly beautiful. There seemes to be a fairly small but extraordinarily powerful genre of ballads which describe fear accurately enough to give me chills. Listen to "The Texas Rangers," "The Lonesome Roving Wolves" or "The Haunted Hunter" for other spine tingling treats. But, keep a night light on.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 08:41 AM

Gee, thanks for all this, gang. I found late yesterday a reference in JB Tinsley's book (what a surprise, he said ironically, to find JBT on this trail) He Was Singing This Song to a song called "Hind Horn" which is said (I think, the reference is somewhat obscure) to be the original of the music for the Ocean Burial version song -- great to have that, thanks radriano/rich r -- anyone know anything about such a song? I will check my university library for Fuld -- much appreciation to all. The music is so strange, I would like to work out its origins as well. It is like some modal dirge. All I ever heard before were some cleaned up versions, which made it less than frightening. The real thing scares the hell out of one.yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 09:24 AM

Speaking of unusual tunes--the transcription to "Bury Me Not in the Deep, Deep Sea," in K. Peacock, Songs of the Newfoundland Outports, is in the unusual rhythm of 5/4. On the recording mentioned above by Nightingale, Keith Murphy sings it in a different rhythm (4/4), but makes it unusual by accompanying it in a dissonant mode.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 09:40 AM

Does Nightingale sing the "O Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie tune for this song?

As you may see, I started a query on "Hind Horn" separately (without checking the Digital Tradition first, like a classic fool), and we are dealing with a Child ballad here. I still wonder if there is a real connection -- the words of the song seem to have nothing to do with anything like The Ocean Burial, but maybe one of the (?) Hind Horn tunes fits? yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: raredance
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 01:39 PM

Peter,

The Tinsley information is what I was going to try to condense, but since you independently found it, you know at least as much as I do. That there are other tales of attribution to the lyrics besides N Howard Thorp's, all equally difficult if not impossible to substantiate. Given the different sets of lyrics that seem to be floating around, there could be some truth to all of the stories. A sheet music version of "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie" was published in 1907 by William Jossey. It apparently had chunks of the traditional lyrics imbedded in a story about a cowboy names Albuquerque Joe. It also had a really different tune. One of my favorite comments was Tinsley's quote from "Teddy Blue" Abbot. There have been many Mudcat discussions about songs that have been overdone to the point that many people actually dislike them. "Bury me Not" apparently achieved that status over a century ago. "It was a saying on the range that even the horses nickered it and the coyotes howled it; it got so they'd throw you in the creek if you sang it. I first heard if along about '81 or '82 and by '85 it was prohibited."

Tinsley also discusses the orgins of several different "Ocean burial" poems written in the mid-1800's containing the "bury me not" theme. ONe written by Edwin Hubbell Chapin in 1839 contains many lines and phrases that ended up in the cowboy song.

rich r

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: GUEST,Peter T.
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 01:55 PM

Dear rich, thanks for the additional info, which I needed. I don't have the book -- I pestered a librarian to telling me over the phone if the chapter of the book devoted to the song had any reference to music!!yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: raredance
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 07:47 PM

I did an on-line library catalog search and found a copy of Fuld in a nearby university library, so I will have to go and check it out. The Fuld volume was also reprinted by Dover in 1995. Another local college has the reprint which they have as a 'reference' item.

rich r

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 08:34 PM

Kathy,

I agree---Joe's is my favorite version of this song. The lyric came home for me when I had to put an elderly aunt into a nursing home against her wishes. We told her what she wanted to hear. Then we did what we had to do just like the guys in this song probably told their friend that thay wouldn't bury him out there. When he died, they did the only practical thing they could do. Then they probably took his boots and rope and saddle and horse.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 07 Apr 00 - 08:23 AM

Who or what is Nightingale? None of the record stores or their catalogues in Toronto have ever heard of them. There is a metal band called Nightingale and a soppy New Age dreck thing called Nightingale, but that is it. More info? yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 07 Apr 00 - 09:42 AM

Nightingale is one of the greatest dance-and-concert bands it's ever been my pleasure to hear. They're based in Vermont, and the link I've provided will get you to a biography, ordering info, and a tour schedule. (For those who can go to Old Songs, Nightingale is scheduled to perform this year [2000].)

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: MAG (inactive)
Date: 07 Apr 00 - 01:47 PM

Art's version of this song is also great. MA

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: tar_heel
Date: 07 Apr 00 - 02:45 PM

two buffalo are walking cross the praire.one stops and says,"hold it,i think i just heard discouraging word!!"

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: raredance
Date: 07 Apr 00 - 11:57 PM

I obtained a copy of the pages from the Fuld book. It contains numerous bits of information although it is not organized very well in a chronological sense. Much of the information overlaps the discussion in Tinsley and I would rate the Tinsely discussion to be overall more compete and more interesting. I will try merge common points from both.

Edward Hubbell Chapin was a well known Universalist clergyman from Boston. He studied law at Tufts University, but was ordained as a Universalist in 1838. He published the poem "The Ocean-Buried" in the Southern Literary Messsenger in 1839. About 4 months after publication of the poem the steamboat "Lexington" caught fire and sank sending 140 people to the bottom of Long Island Sound. Chapin used his poem as a outline for a sermon on the burning of the ship and the tragedy of folks consigned to unmarked watery graves. He preached on the topic at least twice in 1840 and the sermon was included in a book he published in 1846.

In 1845 the Southern Literary Messenger published a poem by E.B. Hale of Putnam, Ohio called "O Bury Me Not". Hale preferred being buried at sea to being buried in a lonely tomb. Related to this (although perhaps tenously since I haven't seen the lyrics) is a song called "The Sailor Boy's Grave" by J. Martin and published in 1841. It opened with the line "Oh bury me not in the dark cold grave."

The Southern Literary Messenger struck again in 1857 when it published "Oh, Bury Me Not" by W.F Wightman. HIs preference was not to be buried by a surging sea, but rather to be laid down in a lovely glade in the grand old woods.

The Saunders claim. In 1884 H. Saunders of Leesburg, Virginia, claimed that his brother Capt. William H Saunders wrote the poem "Bury me not in the deep sea" about forty years earlier and published it in the New Orleans Picayune. The timing would have placed that in the mid 1840's after Chapin's poem and sermons and since no copy of the Picayune has surfaced containing the poem, there is nothing to substantiate the Saunders claim.

Chapin's poem with some minor changes was the basis of the sheet music in 1949 credited to Geo. N. Allen published by S. Brainard, Cleveland (see Levy link above). The musical setting is not the well-known cowboy tune. A "new and improved" version was published in 1850, and it was also printed around the same time on one side of a folio broadside by O.B. Powers, with no city, date, nor copyright.

Eloise Hubbard Linscott in "Folk Songs of Old New England" (orig. 1939) has "The Ocean Burial" with lyrics that very closely match those in the Levy collection (I didn't think to compare tunes when I was there). She says the Chapin/Allen song was: "sung in public at the concerts of Ossian N. Dodge and in innumerable homes. It was carried westward by some New England of Canadian youth, who went from punching logs to punching cattle, and was recreated as 'The Lone Prairie' sung to the old ballad air, 'Hind Horn'" I get the feeling that Ms. Hubbard was engaging in a whole lot of unsubstantiated speculation and she may also be responsible for the 'Hind Horn" connection, if indeed, one can be demonstrated.

John Bauman and English cattle broker wrote in 1877 of hearing the young cowboys in the evening singing their favorite wail "O bury me not on the lone prairie,/ Where the coyotes howl and the wind blose free." Another Englander, this time a woman named Mary Jaques lived a while in Texas and described the favorite song of the Texas cowboys as "then bury me not on the lone prairie,/ With the turkey buzzard and the coyote/ In the narrow grave six foot by three." She recalled hearing the entire song sung one cold winter night by a cowboy tenor "with a great deal of pathos" in a minor key. Not too long afterward the singer was killed by lightning. Jaques' writing was published in 1894 but I don't know what time she was in Texas.

The publication of the William Jossey version in 1907 was described above. Likewise the Annie Laurie Ellis version in JAF in 1901. Neither had the familiar tune. Another printing of the song was in 1905 as part of "Folk Songs of the West and South" harmonized by Arthur Farwell. The title here was "The Lone Prairie" and contained the first line "O bury me out on the lone prairie" with a footnote saying that in some version "out" is "not". The song appeared in the first edition of John Lomax's "Cowboy Songs" in 1910 with lyrics paraphrasing "The Ocean Burial" Lomax called it "The Dying Cowboy". Again the tune is not the most familiar one. The Thorp publication and claim of attribution is desecribed above. J Frank Dobie (1927, Ballds and Songs of the Frontier Folk) disputed Thorp and said there was an unmarked grave near Brady, Texas that locals said belonged to the cowboy that wrote the song. Dobie himself believed the true author would never be known. A source told Vance Randolph that the song was "made up" by Venice and Sam Gentry who herded cattle in Texas in the 1870's.

The well-known music along with words were printed in an article by Mellinger E Henry titled "Still More Ballads and Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands" (Journal of American Folklore 1932). The song was called "The Lone Prairie (The Dying Cowboy)" and Henry stated that his version was a "fragment from western NOrth CArolina"

In 1934 a cowboy singer, Carson S. Robison, popularized a version similar in both lyric and melody called "Carry Me Back To The Lone Prairie". Robison was a Kansas native who longed to go back home.

That's about all I've found about the lyric orgins.

rich r

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 10:31 AM

Again, thanks rich for all this work. One puzzle: I have a version by Carl T. Sprague which must be from the 1920's (it is on a compilation disk), and it is the familiar version -- well, it is not the cleaned up familiar version, but the eerie version. By eerie I mean it is in some mode (I haven't figured out which, some Mixolydian I guess) or minor key, such that, for example, the last notes are "out of tune". Everyone else regularizes it (though Murphey, to his credit, goes back, I assume, to Sprague or the part as written). yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 11:01 AM

A reasonably close (but still not quite right) version of this on the guitar would start on a D6 (the open strings version), and then wander back and forth on Em and Bm, closing again on a D6. This is slightly different from Scotsbard's version.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Art Thieme
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 05:17 PM

MAG, Hi--& thanks,
I based my version on Joe Hickerson's.

Art

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: GUEST,Peter T.
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 09:35 AM

Art, is it on an album of yours? Obtainable? yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 10:34 AM

Peter,

No, it's not on any o' the albums. It WAS included on a cassette put together by Bill Munger of radio station WCBE-FM in Columbus, Ohio -- 1991. (540 Jack Gibbs Blvd.--Columbus43215 614-365-5555. Includes Michael Cooney,Tom Paxton, Bob Zentz, Peter & Lou Berryman,Tom Dundee, Bill Morrissey, Magpie, Larry Penn & your truly. This cassette was a fundraier thing for that NPR station.

Thanks for asking though,

Art

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 10:43 AM

the program was called GLOBAL VILLAGE.

Art

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Peter T.
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 04:46 PM

There seems to be another sighting in a book called "Songs From Saskatchewan" by Craig (I think) -- will check it out. yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 05:58 PM

The tune for Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie is the same as the one used for the cowboy ballad, "The Trail to Mexico".

Frank

Subject: Lyr Add: BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE (Jack Lee
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 03:28 PM

It is the song that every western singer wore out over some 130 years, but here is the version sung by Powder River Jack Lee. It has some verses printed by John A. Lomax in 1910, but is different in many ways. Lee said it was "taken from an old sea chantey, "Oh, bury me not in the deep, deep sea where the wild, wild waves will roll o'er me," etc."

BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE
(Powder River Jack Lee version)

Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
These words came low and mournfully
From the pallid lips of a youth who lay
On his dying bed at the close of day.
He had wailed in pain till o'er his brow
Death's shadows fast were gathering now,
And he thought of his friends and his home so nigh,
As the cowboys gathered to see him die.

Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyotes will howl o'er me,
Where the west wind sweeps and the grasses wave,
And sunbeams rest on the prairie grave.
In fancy I listen to the well-known words
Of the free wild winds and the song of the birds;
I think of home and the cottage in the bower
And the scenes I loved in my childhood's hour.

It matters not, I've often been told,
Where the body lies when the heart grows cold.
Yet grant, oh, grant this wish to me;
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
Then bury me not on the lone prairie
In a narrow grave six by three,
Where the buffalo paws o'er the prairie sea,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

I've always wished to be laid, when I died,
In the little churchyard on the green hillside;
By my father's grave, there let mine be;
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
O'er me then a mother's prayer
And a sister's tears might mingle there,
Where my friends can come and weep o'er me;
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie
In a narrow grave just six by three,
Where the buzzard waits and the wind blows free,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
There is another whose tears may be shed
For one who lies on a prairie bed.
It pained me then, and it pains me now-
She has curled these locks, she has kissed this brow.

Oh, why did I roam o'er the wild prairie?
She's waiting there at home for me.
But her lovely face ne'er more I'll see;
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
These locks she has curled, shall the rattlesnake kiss?
This brow she has kissed, shall the cold grave press?
For the sake of her who will weep for me,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyotes will howl o'er me,
Where the buzzard beats, and the wind goes free;
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
Oh, bury me not, and his voice failed there,
But we took no heed of his dying prayer;
In a narrow grave just six by three
We buried him there on the lone prairie.

Where the dewdrops glow and the butterflies rest,
And the flowers bloom o'er the prairie's crest;
Where the wild coyote and the wind sports free
On a wet saddle blanket lay a cowboy-ee.
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyote will howl o'er me.
Where the rattlesnakes hiss and the crow flies free,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

Oh, we buried him there on the lone prairie,
Where the wild rose blooms and the wind blows free.
Oh, his young face ne'er more to see
For we buried him there on the lone prairie.
Yes, we buried him there on the lone prairie
Where the owl at night hoots mournfully;
And the blizzard beats and the wind blows free
O'er his lonely grave on the lone prairie.

May the light-winged butterfly pause to rest
O'er him who sleeps on the prairie's crest;
May the Texas rose in the breezes wave
O'er him who sleeps in the prairie's grave.
And the cowboys now, as they roam the plain-
For they marked the spot where his bones were lain-
Fling a handful of roses o'er his grave,
With a prayer to God his soul to save.

Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wolves can howl and growl o'er me,
Fling a handful of roses o'er my grave
With a prayer to Him who my soul will save.
Where the rattlesnakes glide
And rattle and slide,
But we buried him there
On the lone prairie.

Powder River Jack H. Lee, 1938, "Cowboy Songs," pp. 60-61, with music. The McKee Printing Co., Butte, Montana.

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 04:06 PM

I read through this thread expecting to have been beaten to the punch, but no-one seems to have mentioned Bob Hope in "The Paleface" singing "Buttons and Bows":

"Don't bury me in that prairie
Take me where the cement grows...."

Clearly not a very original line, but a different setting

Nigel

Subject: RE: Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie????
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 05:11 PM

There is a mock-Italian fragment in American Memory called "Bury Me in A-Fruita Stand.
There should be a goodly number of parodies out there. Might be worth looking for. Surprising is that Randolph-Legman have none.