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 LaredajThe Streets of Laredo Esperanto version by Marta Evans in Kantfesto I, 1982 |
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: |
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 |
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