...all wrapped in white linen.

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 01:38 AM

Oh, yes, the roses in Jackson's version were to deaden the smell. A much more realistic reason that to "deaden the clods as they fall."

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: Haruo
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 01:45 AM

Dicho, I have no idea where the seventh pallbearer would be placed. Of course, I also have no idea what text Marta Evans was working from; maybe there are English versions out there where the magic number is seven, and I just haven't run into any of them. Anybody?

FWIW, here's...
A line-by-line non-singable anglicization of

La Stratoj Laredaj

The Streets of Laredo
(The Cowboy's Lament)

Esperanto version by Marta Evans in Kantfesto I, 1982
Slightly revised by Liland Brajant Ros' in Donu hejmon al mi..., 1997

1. Dum mi trapromenis la stratojn Laredajn,
   (ho, venu, aŭskultu al morna rakont'!)
   mi vidis vakeron volvitan linaĵe.
   Volvite en blanko, li ŝajnis mortont'.

   While I walked out through the Laredan streets,
   (oh, come, listen to a mournful story!)
   I saw a cowboy [vaquero] wrapped in linen.
   Wrapped in white, he seemed about to die.

2. "Sidiĝu ĉi tie, aŭskultu kaj ploru,"
   li diras al mi de la grund', sia lit'.
   "Mi drinkis kaj vetis, kaj iu min pafis,
   kaj baldaŭ forlasos min mia spirit'."

   "Sit down here, listen and weep,"
   he said to me from the ground, his bed.
   "I drank to excess and gambled, and someone shot me,
   and soon my spirit will abandon me."

3. "Venigu sep ulojn por porti la ĉerkon,
   kaj ankaŭ sep inojn : ploranta septet',
   kaj sep ruĝaj rozoj ornamu la tombon :
   plej bonŝanca nombro sur kuboj en vet'."

   "Bring seven guys to carry the coffin,
   and also seven gals : a weeping septet,
   and let seven red roses adorn the grave :
   luckiest number on dice in a bet."

4. "Venigu vakerojn, la junajn, naivajn;
   rakontu al ili kronikon de l' sort'.
   Parolu pri aĉa, senbrida malbono,
   kaj kiom danĝeras la vetluda sport'."

   "Bring cowboys, the young, naïve [ones];
   tell to them a chronicle of the fate.
   Speak of yeccchhy, unbridled badness,
   and of how dangerous [is] the sport of betting."

5. "Bonvolu alporti glaseton da akvo,
   mi petas : ĝi estu la lasta komfort'."
   Mi iris por fari, sed mankis la tempo :
   sur strato Lareda alvenis la mort'.

   "Please bring a little glass of water,
   I beg [of you] : let it be the final comfort."
   I went to do it, but time was lacking :
   on a Laredan street death arrived.

Liland

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 04:58 AM

There are so many versions of this song, I've always referred to it as "Young Soldier/Sailor cut down in his Prime". Obviously the "Cowboy" version came later. And perhaps the end of the line is "St James Infirmary Blues". On the other hand, in the future we might have, "Young spaceman cut down in his Suspended Animation".

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: GUEST,breezy
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 10:10 AM

Set adrift in the vacuous void,? but it may not scan so .

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 11:42 AM

Liland, I think your version came from a bad east Indian movie.

The earliest claim for authorship of "The Cowboy's Lament" is 1876, by Francis Henry Maynard. At that time he was working with "the Grimes outfit" wintering cattle on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River On the Kansas-Indian Territory border. He said that he was inspired by "The Dying Girl's Lament," at the time sung by cowboys. He moved the scene from a hospital to Tom Sherman's barroom, a popular watering hole in Dodge City (The Whorehouse Bells are Ringing, Guy Logsden, 1989, p. 291, University of Illinois Press). The locale ws moved to Laredo later. Certainly the Bard of Armagh was known in the United States, and the tune came from this.
The traditional version was well-known by 1898 when Owen Wister included a verse in his great western novel, "Lin McLean." The many other lyrics, such as those mentioned by Bryant, are little known now and their occurrence or distribution in the United States is not well-documented.
In 1908, Sharlot Hall collected a version in Arizona:
"As I rode out to Latern in Barin
As I rode out so early one day,
'Twas there I espied a handsome young cowboy
All dressed in white linen and clothed for the grave."
The Irish origin is obvious here. The other verses were all similar to the Maynard-traditional verses (from the same source mentioned above).

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Oct 02 - 02:19 AM

Somebody sent me a list of songs and threads that are related to "St James Infirmary" and "Streets of Laredo" The list is far too long to use with our grouping system, but I thought I'd post it here.
-Joe Offer-

---

It is arguable whether the following should all be cross-referenced as one big group, or broken up into 2 or 3 groups. I'll leave it up to you to decide. Two groups already exist: (1) Streets of Laredo/Pills of White Mercury; and (2) St. James Infirmary (see footnotes)

Songid=
0089 A SUN VALLEY SONG
0928 BRIGHT SUMMER MORNING
2859 I ONCE WAS A CARMAN IN THE BIG MOUNTAIN CON
3672 LOCKE HOSPITAL
4271 NOO I'M A YOUNG MAN CUT DOWN IN MY PRIME
4501 ONE MORNING IN MAY
4684 PILLS OF WHITE MERCURY
5525 ST. JAMES' HOSPITAL
5526** ST. JAMES INFIRMARY
5573* STREETS OF LAREDO (COWBOY'S LAMENT)
5691 TARPAULIN JACKET
5782 BAD GIRL'S LAMENT
5792 BALLAD OF BLOODY THURSDAY
6210 DYING LUMBERMAN
6367 GIRL IN THE DILGER CASE
6426 HALLS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL
6607 LINEMAN'S HYMN
6851 PROGRAMMER'S LAMENT
7013 STREETS OF LOREDO
7071 TROOPER CUT DOWN IN HIS PRIME
7101 UNFORTUNATE RAKE
7156 WILD LUMBERJACK
7208 YOUNG SAILOR CUT DOWN IN HIS PRIME
7498 UNFORTUNATE LASS
7768 WHEN I WAS ON HORSEBACK
Threadid=
00241 Lyr Req: The Pills of White Mercury
00890 Pills of White Mercury
03172** Tune request: St. James Infirmary
03918* ...all wrapped in white linen.
06346 unfortunate rake
13778** Tab request 'St. James Infirmary'
14919* Streets of Laredo
14941* Lyr Add: Pills of White Mercury
16016 Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
20068 Tune Req: St. James Infirmary
20256** Tune Req: St. James Infirmary Blues
20413 Lyr Add: Tom Sherman's Barroom
22885 Penguin: The Young Girl Cut Down In Her Prime
24143** Lyr Req: st james infirmary (request only)
26976** Lyr/Chords Req: St. James Infirmary
30298** Chords Req: St. James Infirmary
36109 BS: St. Jude's Infirmary (Parody for Spaw)
42215 Lyr/Chords Req: Pills of White Mercury, Old B
46310** History of Saint James Infirmary Blues?
46314 Lyr Req: 16 Coal Black Horses, a funeral dirge
48964** St. James infirmary
*Already cross-referenced: Streets of Laredo group
**Already cross-referenced: St. James Infirmary group

-

---

Here are the groups:

• Streets of Laredo
• St. James Infirmary

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: Gurney
Date: 07 Oct 02 - 05:22 AM

Dreadful song. I used to love it, once. Cyril Tawney 'localised' it by remaming the hospital (maybe Royal Albion, I can't really remember)as I heard him announce about 30 years ago.
30 years. Good grief.

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: CapriUni
Date: 08 Oct 02 - 12:45 AM

Gurney... what changed your mind about the song?

Was it learning what the song really meant?

Hearing it one (or one hundred) times too many?

A change in your musical aesthetic sense?

Just curious...

Subject: Lyr Add: THE COW BOYS LAMENT (Thorp 1908)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 06 Mar 03 - 04:16 PM

Lyr. Add: THE COW BOYS LAMENT (Thorp 1908)

'Twas once in my saddle I used to be happy
'Twas once in my saddle I used to be gay
But I first took to drinking, then to gambling
A shot from a six-shooter took my life away.

My curse let it rest, rest on the fair one
Who drove me from friends that I loved and from home
Who told me she loved me, just to deceive me
My curse rest upon her, wherever she roam.

Oh she was fair, Oh she was lovely
The belle of the Village the fairest of all
But her heart was as cold as the snow on the mountains
She gave me up for the glitter of gold.

I arrived in Galveston in old Texas
Drinking and gambling I went to give o'er
But, I met with a Greaser and my life he has finished
Home and relations I ne'er shall see more.

Send for my father, Oh send for my mother
Send for the surgeon to look at my wounds
But I fear it is useless I feel I am dying
I'm a young cowboy cut down in my bloom.

Farewell my friends, farewell my relations
My earthly career has cost me sore
The cow-boy ceased talking, they knew he was dying
His trials on earth, forever were o'er.

Chor. Beat your drums lightly, play your fifes merrily
Sing your dearth (Sic) march as you bear me along
Take me to the grave yard, lay the sod o'er me
I'm a young cow-boy and know I've done wrong.

Copied without changes from a facimile copy of "Songs of the Cowboys," N. Howard Thorp, News Print Shop, Estancia, New Mexico. Copyright, 1908, N. Howard Thorp.

The facsimile bears the manuscript inscription "1st Book of Cowboy Songs published in the U. S. Songs marked + are by the author
N. Howard Jack Thorp Alameda, N. M."
The Preface says "To the Ranchmen of the West this little volume is dedicated as a reminder of the trail days and roundups of the past. To the younger generation who know not of the trip from Texas to Dodge and the north, it will tend to keep alive the memory of an industry now past. I have gathered these songs from the cow camps of different states and territories [NM and AZ gained statehood four years later, in 1912]. They embrace most of the songs as sung by the oldtime cow punchers."
There is no mention of authorship or provenance. "I plead ignorance of the authorship of ["most" added in MS] them but presume that most of the composers have, ere now, "Gone up the dim narrow trail." Thorp, however, in MS, claimed authorship of five, including "Little Joe the Wrangler."

This is not the song in the DT pointed to by rich r. There is no note crediting authorship of "The Cow Boys Lament" to Troy Hale.

The facsilile is printed, unpaginated, after p. 257 of Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, "Songs of the Cowboys by N. Howard ("Jack") Thorp," Variants, Commentary Notes and Lexicon by Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, Clarkson N Potter, publisher, 1966. Thorp had nothing to do with the 257 pages of comments, songs and music by the Fifes.
In 1921, "Thorp abandoned the 1908 text for Lomax's longer and smoother synthetic text, which has had much more influence upon the twentieth century singing of the song than it deserves." The Fifes go on to condemn Lomax's "bowdlerization." The 1921 edition is the one in which Troy Hale is mentioned. No one has taken this seriously.

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 06 Mar 03 - 04:20 PM

Ok, facsimile.

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: GUEST,IanN
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 05:03 AM

Does anyone know for definate the origin of the tune for Streets of Laredo? GUESTFred suggest the Bard of Armagh however a book I've seen cites the origins of the tune as being England???

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 06:30 PM

Suggest you see thread 52843, especialy a post by Malcolm Douglas, 30 Oct 02, which discusses "The Unfortunate Rake," and also read the other posts in this thread. Seemingly the tune can be traced back to about 1800, English. Buck's Elegy

Bard of Armagh and Streets of Laredo belong in this group of songs with the same or very similar melody.

Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen.
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 05:50 PM

Worth noting in these threads is the Folkways Album, No. FA 3805, issued in 1960, called "The Unfortunate Rake, A Study in the Evolution of a Ballad," notes by K. S. Goldstein.
I checked several related threads, but didn't note mention of this album. Tracks:
The Unfortunate Rake. Sung by A. L. Lloyd
The Trooper Cut Down in His Prime. E. W. MacColl
The Young Sailor Cut Down in His Prime. Harry Cox
Noo I'm a Young Man Cut Down in My Prime. Willie Mathieson
The Bad Girl's Lament. Wade Hemsworth
One Morning in May. Hally Wood
Bright Summer Morning. Mrs. Viola Penn
The Girl in the Dilger Case. D. K. Wilgus
The Cowboy's Lament. Bruce Buckley
The Streets of Laredo. Harry Jackson
St. James Hospital. Alan Lomax
Gambler's Blues. Dave Van Ronk
I Once Was a Carman in the Big Mountain Con. Guthrie Meade
The Lineman's Hymn. Rosalie Sorrels
The Wild Lumberjack. Kenneth S. Goldstein
Sun Valley Song. Jan Brunvand
The Ballad of Bloody Thursday. John Greenway
The Streets of Hamtramck. Bill Friedland
The Ballad of Sherman Wu. Sung by Pete Seeger
The Professor's Lament. Roger Abrahams