Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: GUEST,moosish
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 11:37 PM

I was curious about the origins of this song, since it was sung by a character in a chapter of the classic book "My Antonia." The book was written in 1918 by Willa Cather. It takes place in the Midwest, so the mention you referenced about having heard it originally sung in Nebraska approx. 1850 makes sense. Thanks for your info!

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 10:50 AM

I hope you'll cite Mudcat in your paper if that's why you're online doing this research!

You will need to list directly each online source you quote, and use their durable links, but a note in the footnotes somewhere saying that you were put on the path to the origins of this song at Mudcat.org would be appropriate.

SRS

Subject: Lyr Add: SONG OF THE DYING COW-BOY
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 12:32 PM

The earliest publication of the cowboy song may be that in the Montpelier "Vermont Watchman" (June 1, 1887), p. 7, where it is said to have been known in Texas in the spring of 1880 as "The Song of the Dying Cow-boy":

SONG OF THE DYING COW-BOY

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

His cheeks grew pale and his pulse beat slow,
As the clouds of death o'er him rolled;
He talked of home and the loved ones there,
As the cow-boys gathered to see him die.

"Oh! bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyotes will howl over me,
For I always wished to be buried, when I died,
In the little church-yard on the green hillside.

"It matters not, so I've been told,
Where the body lies when the heart grows cold,
But when I am gone weep not for me;
Oh! bury me not on the lone prairie.

"Oh! bury me not" --and the words failed there;
But we heeded not his dying prayer.
In a narrow grave, just six by three,
We buried him there on the lone prairie.

There the wind blows cold on a dark old trail,
There the moonbeams sparkled on a prairie grave.
'Tis the well-known tramp of a poor cow-boy
Who stayed far away on an old cow-trail.

Subject: Lyr Add: OH, BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 05:54 PM

This is a very disappointing version; but since I'm trying to ensure we have all the songs from Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag, (page 20), here's Sandburg's version:


OH, BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE

1 Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild kiyotes will howl o'er me;
Where the rattlesnakes hiss and the wind blows free,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

They heeded not his dying prayer,
They buried bun there on the lone paririe,
In a little box just six by three,
His bones now rot on the lone prairie.

Sandburg's notes: This arrangement is from a song known to boys of the Crossroads Club at the University of Oregon. After a recital and reception there one evening three years ago, we held a song and story session lasting till five o'clock in the morning. Nearly all nations and the seven seas were represented. A contingent from the Black Hills of South Dakota sang this version of The Cowboy' Lament. They put their arms on each other's shoulders, stood in a circle, and cried the lines almost as a ritual from lonesome flat lands, the arms on each other's shoulders signifying that no matter how tough life might be they could meet it if they stood together. They pronounced "wind" with a long "i" as in "find" or "blind," and said the cowhands always sang it in that classical manner.

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 06:01 PM

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie [Laws B2]

DESCRIPTION: A cowboy is dying. He asks to be taken home and buried in his family home. His request is ignored; he is buried in a small and isolated prairie grave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: +1901 (JAFL14)
KEYWORDS: cowboy death burial
FOUND IN: US(Ap,NW,Ro,So,SE) Canada(Newf,West)
REFERENCES (21 citations):
Laws B2, "The Dying Cowboy (Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie)" (sample text in NAB, pp. 81-82)
Larkin, pp. 37-39, "The Lone Prairie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 387-392, "The Lone Prairie" (5 texts)
Randolph 184, "Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 262, "The Lone Prairie" (2 texts)
Hudson 93, pp. 222-223, "O Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 436, "The Lone Prairie" (1 text)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 92-93, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 153-154, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 20, "Oh, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 117, "The Dying Cowboy" (3 texts, 1 tune)
SharpAp 169, "The Lonesome Prairie" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Lomax-FSUSA 60, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 78, pp. 171-173, "O Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (1 text)
JHCox 54, "The Lone Prairie" (2 texts)
JHCoxIIB, #9, p. 143, "The Lone Prairie" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 164-165, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 110, "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 201-203, "The Dying Cowboy" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 396-398, "Oh, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie"
DT 370, LONEPRAR*
Roud #631
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "The Dying Cowboy" (Columbia 15463-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Jules [Verne] Allen, "The Dying Cowboy" (Victor 23834, 1933; on BackSaddle)
Bentley Ball, "The Dying Cowboy" (Columbia A3085, 1920)
Bill Childers, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (OKeh 45203, 1928)
Vernon Dalhart, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (Columbia 969-D, 1927) (Romeo 431/Perfect 12361, 1927) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5315, n.d. but prob. 1927)
Phil & Frank Luther, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (Melotone M-12143, 1931)
Asa Martin, "The Dying Cowboy" (Banner 32426/Melotone M12497 [both as Martin & Roberts]/Royal [Canada] 91402, 1932)
Sloan Matthews, "The Dying Cowboy" (AFS, 1940s; on LC28)
Pickard Family, "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie" (Columbia 15141-D, 1927)
Holland Puckett, "The Dying Cowboy" (Silvertone 25065, 1927; Supertone 9253, 1929)
Herbert Sills, "O Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (on Saskatch01)
Carl T. Sprague, "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (Victor 20122, 1926; Montgomery Ward M-4099, 1933; on MakeMe)
Vel Veteran [pseud. for either Arthur Fields, Vernon Dalhart, or Irving Kaufman] "O Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (Grey Gull 4239, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ocean Burial"
cf. "Going to Leave Old Texas (Old Texas, Texas Song, The Cowman's Lament)" (tune)
cf. "I've Got No Use for the Women" (lyrics)
Notes: Probably adapted from "The Ocean Burial," attributed to Rev. Edwin H. Chapin (1839). For the complex question of the tune, see the notes on that piece.
The 1922 edition of Thorp (quoted also by Belden) claims that the adaption to "The Lone Prairie" is by H. Clemons and written in 1872. I know of no supporting data. - RBW
File: LB02

---

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Subject: Lyr Add: OH, BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 09:09 PM

The 1901 version listed in the Traditional Ballad Index is close to but a little different from others posted above.

OH, BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE
A Song of Texas Cowboys.

"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 couch at the break of day;
Who had wasted in time till o'er his brow
Death's shades were closely gathering now.
He thought of home and the loved ones nigh,
As the cowboys gathered to see him die.
2
"Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild cy-ote will howl o'er me,
In a narrow grave just six by three,-
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
I always hoped to be laid when I died
In the old churchyard by the green hillside.
By the bones of my father, oh there let me be,-
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie."
3
"I wish to lie where a mother dear,
And sister's tears can be mingled there,
Where my friends could come and weep o'er me,-
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie."
It matters not, so we oft him told,
Where the body lies when the heart grows cold:
"But grant, oh grant this boon unto me,-
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie."
4
"Oh, bury me not"- and his voice failed there,
But they gave no heed to his dying prayer;
In a narrow grave just six by three
They buried him there on the lone prairie.
Where the dewdrops close and the butterfly rests,
Where the wild rose blooms on the prairie crest,
Where the cy-ote howls and the wind blows free,
They buried him there on the lone prairie.

Uvalde, Texas. Mrs. Annie Laurie Ellis.
With brief musical score.
"All the notes should be slurred more or less to give the wailing effect."

Jour. American Folk-lore, 1901, vol. 14, no. 54, p. 186.
"Folk-Music, "Oh, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie."

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: GUEST,Rose
Date: 29 Jul 11 - 06:11 PM

My favorite version can be found in the Wolf Folklore Collection; the words are fairly similar, but the second verse is different from any I've seen. There's a recording of it sung there, as well.

"Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie."
These words came sad and mournfully
From the pallid lips of a youth who lay
On his dying cot at the close of day.

The cowboys gathered around his bed
To hear what their dying cowboy said.
"Oh, grant--oh, grant--this boon for me:
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

"By my father's side let my bones be laid,
On the lone hillside in the maple's shade,
Where my friends may come and . . . me.
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

"It matters not, so I've been told,
Where the body lies when the heart grows cold.
But grant--oh, grant--this dying . . . ,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.

"Don't listen to enticing words
From men who own large groves and herds.
Oh, comrades brave, take warning, pray;
Don't leave your home for the lone prairie.

"Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyotes will howl o'er me,
Where the rattlesnakes hiss and the wind sports free.
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.

http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/ashbury1247.html

Subject: Lyr Add: BURY ME OUT ON THE PRAIRIE (B Kincaid)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Sep 16 - 01:36 AM

BURY ME OUT ON THE PRAIRIE
As recorded by Bradley Kincaid, 1930.

1. Well, I've got no use for the women.
A true one may never be found.
They'll use a man for his money.
When it's gone, they'll turn him down.
They're all alike at the bottom,
Selfish and grasping for all.
They'll stick by a man while he's winnin',
And laugh in his face at his fall.

2. My pal was a straight young puncher,
Honest and upright and square,
But he turned to a gunman and gambler,
And a woman sent him there.
Quicker and surer were his gunplay,
Till his heart and his body lay dead.
When a vaquero insulted her picture,
He filled him full of lead.

3. All night long they trailed him,
Through mesquite and chaparral,
And I couldn't but think of the woman
As I saw him pitch and fall.
If she'd been the pal that she should've,
He might have been raisin' a son,
Instead of out there on the prairie,
To fall by the ranger's gun.

4. Death's slow sting did not trouble.
His chances for life were too slim,
But where they were puttin' his body
Was all that worried him.
He lifted his head on his elbow.
The blood from his wounds flowed red.
He looked at his pals grouped about him,
And whispered to them and said:

5. "Oh, bury me out on the prairie,
Where the coyotes may howl o'er my grave.
Bury me out on the prairie,
And some of my bones please save.
Wrap me up in the blankets,
And bury me deep 'neath the ground.
Cover me over with boulders
Of granite huge and round."

6. So they buried him out on the prairie,
And the coyotes still howl o'er his grave,
But his soul is now a-restin',
From the unkind cut she gave;
And many a similar puncher,
As he rides by that pile of stone,
Recalls some similar woman
And envies his moldering bones.

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 05 Feb 17 - 12:23 PM

Jim,
According to earlier postings this song was written by Gene Autry and recorded by Travis G Hale in 1927. The history of the various songs being discussed here is being covered very well but there seems to be a whole raft of tunes being used which could do to be covered by someone with the appropriate skills.

I'm particularly interested in the 'I've got no use for the women' song and its tune which I have in a songbook 'Francis and Day's Hill-billy Album No. 1 where it's titled 'Bury me out on the Prairie.' The album has no date and the song is not attributed to anyone.

My interest is in what happened to the song when it reached this side of the pond in the 30s. There is another thread on this and I'll be posting my queries/info there.

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 05 Feb 17 - 12:25 PM

I should add:
The other thread is titled WWII Lyric required 'Bury me out in Benghazi'

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: Mrrzy
Date: 05 Feb 17 - 01:52 PM

My version (either Ed McCurdy or Cisco Houston, I think McCurdy) of No Use goes
...faithful and upright and true
But he turned to a hard-shootin' gunman
On account of a girl named Lou
He fell in with evil companions
The kind that are better off dead
When a gambler insulted her picture
He filled him full of lead.

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 06 May 17 - 03:35 PM

I have several songs/versions based on 'Bury me out'. There are at least 3 different tunes being used. Mostly they should be called parodies and mostly forces songs from WWII North Africa and the English trawling communities.

What I would call the original tune is in a copy of the Hill-Billy Album No 1. no date but presumably 30s. One WWII parody actually uses a variant of this tune but all the rest have been set to 'Red River Valley' a better-known song this side of the pond. I only have one version of the trawling parody with a tune and it has been set to The Gresford Disaster tune in Lancashire. Any further info on British parody tunes used would be helpful.

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: RTim
Date: 06 May 17 - 04:35 PM

Here is the song as recorded by the great Bruce Molsky with a wondeful video of a patch of the Lone Prairie..............

Tim Radford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5vJnGhUCxM

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: GUEST,RMillions
Date: 03 Oct 19 - 07:59 PM

My favourite version of Bury me not on the lone prairie is one by Frank Goodman from 1939

Here's a link to it if you'd like to take a listen:
https://www.loc.gov/item/lomaxbib000089/

Unfortunately, it is an incomplete version, as the recording cuts off mid verse

if anyone is able to find the full version please share your findings

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 03 Oct 19 - 08:28 PM

I think you mean Frank Goodwyn ?? https://www.loc.gov/item/afc9999005.11468/

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: leeneia
Date: 04 Oct 19 - 12:36 PM

The Sons of the Pioneers sing three verses from the song posted by Guest, Rose in 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZm21jPRfxg

Until I heard that, I had never heard anything of that song beyond the first line.

Someone once said that punch lines of long-forgotten jokes still echo throughout our language. So do the first lines of long-forgotten sentimental songs.

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: GUEST,RMilliosn
Date: 04 Nov 19 - 03:00 AM

I did mean Frank Goodwyn, sorry for any confusion

Subject: Lyr Add: I’VE GOT NO USE FOR WOMEN (Gene Autry)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 09:13 AM

Back on 13-Aug-08, Q_(Frank_Staplin) raised a question about a version of this song supposedly written by Gene Autry. He posted lyrics that he got from a website but I can’t find his source, and I suspect the attribution to Gene Autry is mistaken.


I’VE GOT NO USE FOR WOMEN
As sung by Gene Autry in the film “Under Fiesta Stars,” 1941. (You can see the scene at YouTube.)
Written by Sol Meyer (as credited at IMDb.com).

I’ve got no use for some women; a true one may seldom be found.
They’ll use a man for his money; when it’s gone, they’ll turn him down.
Their hearts are alike at the bottom, selfish and grasping for all.
They’ll stay by a man while he’s winnin’ and laugh in his face at his fall.

When a woman declares that she loves you, she may have her fingers crossed,
And if you believe what she tells you, you’ll wake up and find you’ve lost.
When a man starts to courtin’ a woman, he very seldom will win.
When he’s chasin’, he’s safe till he gets her; when he’s caught, the trouble begins.

I like my horse better’n that woman; a horse is a friend I can trust.
As long as I give him a feedbag, he don’t mind the sand or the dust.
A horse will remember your kindness; he’ll carry a hundred-pound pack.
A woman will cry like a dogie, but a horse will never talk back.

- - -
Various recordings titled I[’VE] GOT NO USE FOR [THE] WOMEN (“I’ve got” is sometimes rendered as “I got”, and “the” is sometimes omitted) have been made by The Tune Wranglers (1936), Burl Ives (“More Folksongs,” 1950), Ed McCurdy (“Songs of a Bold Balladeer,”1958), Mac Wiseman (single, 1959), Marty Robbins (“More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” 1960), Peter La Farge (“Songs of the Cowboys,” 1963), Homer & Jethro (“Go West,” 1963),, and The Norman Luboff Choir (“Songs of the Trail,” 1966)!

There is a song called BURY ME OUT ON THE PRAIRIE that has as its first line: “Now, I’ve got no use for the women,” written by Nick Manoloff, 1934.

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: Lighter
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 11:58 AM

Just to nail down the presumed original, this is from the U.S. "Catalog of Copyright Entries 1927," p. 3:

"Oh! bury me out on the prairie; words and music by Travis Hale and Dean Fitzer, arr. by Rube Bennett; pf. and ukulele acc. © Feb. 17, 1927...Villa Moret, inc., San Francisco."

Subject: RE: Origins: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
From: GUEST,D. Kingsley Hahn
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 03:27 PM

The old radio program "Red Ryder" used a striking orchestral version of the tune to introduce each program. Somewhat ironic, for a children's "cowboy" show, to utilize a "lament" for an otherwise upbeat show.

And I noticed only a couple passing references to the similar tune, "Going To Leave Old Texas Now":

"I'm going to leave old Texas now
They have no use for the long-horn cow
They've plowed and fenced my cattle range
And the people there are all so strange."

A deviation from a burial request; but still a mournful farewell.