Lyr Req: (A) Little Grey Home in the West

Subject: (A) Little Gray Home In The West
From: GUEST,Spud Murphy
Date: 05 Dec 01 - 11:06 AM

Checked DigiTrad. Nothing there. Nothing in Google. CDNow & BN have it on a Sons of the Pioneers Album I can't afford. Any ideas, Sorcha? Joe? Anybody?

Spud

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (A) Little Gray Home In The West
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Dec 01 - 11:23 AM

I looked, Spud. Nothing. Checked cowpie, Olga, "Sons of the Pioneers", and Levy just for kicks. (I figured it wouldn't be there.) Sorry.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (A) Little Gray Home In The West
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Dec 01 - 01:30 PM

Also looked. Only found trivia. Written by Herman Lohr and D. Eradley-Wilmot. Sung by Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy in "Sweethearts." Recorded also by Sons of the Pioneers. A favorite of Australia's first prime minister. Text of a book by that title. Etc. But no lyrics!

Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE GREY HOME IN THE WEST
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 06:24 PM

Here it is, copied from http://noviomagus.tripod.com/littlegreyhome.htm

LITTLE GREY HOME IN THE WEST
Hermann Frederic Löhr and D. Eardley-Wilmot, c.1911

When the golden sun sinks in the hills,
And the toil of a long day is o'er,
    Though the road may be long,
    In the lilt of a song,
I forget I was weary before.
Far ahead, where the blue shadows fall,
I shall come to contentment and rest,
    And the toils of the day
    Will be all charmed away,
In my little grey home of the west.

There are hands that will welcome me in.
There are lips I am burning to kiss.
    There are two eyes that shine
    Just because they are mine,
And a thousand things other men miss.
It's a corner of heaven itself,
Though it's only a tumble-down nest;
    But with love brooding there,
    Why, no place can compare
With my little grey home in the west.

[Allmusic.com lists recordings by Kenny Baker, Andy Cooney, Frances Langford, Josef Locke, John MacNally, Frank Patterson, Paddy Reilly, Robert White, and the Sons of the Pioneers (but they spell it 'GRAY')]

Subject: Lyr Add: MY LITTLE WET HOME IN THE TRENCH
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 06:25 PM

And, for good measure, here are two WW1 parodies from the same web site:

MY LITTLE WET HOME IN THE TRENCH
Tom Skeyhill, 1915

I've a little wet home in the trench,
Which the rain-storms continually drench;
    Blue sky overhead,
    Mud and clay for a bed,
And a stone that we use for a bench.
Bully beef and hard biscuits we chew;
    Shells crackle and scare,
    But no place can compare
With my little wet home in the trench.

Our friends in the trench o'er the way
Seem to know that we've come here to stay;
    They rush and they shout,
    But they can't get us out,
Though there's no dirty work they don't play.
They rushed us a few nights ago,
But we don't like intruders, and so
    Some departed quite sore,
    Others sleep evermore,
Near my little wet home in the trench.

So hurrah for the mud and the clay,
It's the road to "Der Tag"—that's "The Day"—
    When we enter Berlin,
    That big city of sin,
Where we'll make the fat Berliner pay.
We'll remember the cold, and the frost,
When we scour the fat land of the Bhost;
    There'll be shed then, I fear,
    Redder stuff than a tear
For my little wet home in the trench.


A LITTLE WET HOME IN A TRENCH
John Lucy

I've a little wet home in a trench,
Where the rainstorms continually drench,
    There's a dead cow close by
    With her feet in towards the sky
And she gives off a terrible stench.
Underneath, in the place of a floor,
There's a mass of wet mud and some straw,
    But with shells dropping there,
    There's no place to compare,
With my little wet home in the trench.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (A) Little Gray Home In The West
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 07:05 PM

I didn't have this recording when it was first reqested, but I've since found it in a Proper Box, My Saddle Pals and I, a collection of about a hundred cuts from the Sons of the Pioneers - it costs 25 bucks at Amazon, which is about the price we ought to pay for reissues like this.
It sure is a treat. Kudoes to Proper and to JSP for their wonderful, affordable box sets.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (A) Little Gray Home In The West
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 08:20 PM

Complete sheet music is available from the University of Colorado Digital Sheet Music Collection, the best source for these songs of the west composed in the early 20th c.

http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/sheetmusic.pl?WTLittle&WesternTrails&main
or start with the alphabetical title sheet- Western trails

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (A) Little Gray Home In The West
From: Fliss
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 04:30 PM

Nice song. Reminds me of my dad's old wind up gramaphone - one of the 78s he had.
fxx

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Grey Home in the West
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 01:26 PM

Not surprised: John McCormack recorded it in, I think, 1914 or 1916.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Grey Home in the West
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Oct 06 - 09:39 PM

The Online 78 rpm Discographical Project lists recordings of LITTLE GREY HOME IN THE WEST by these artists:

Sam Ash, Kenny Baker, Brunswick Salon Orchestra (Katzman), Henry Burr, Jesse Crawford, Marie Dawson, Eddie Dean, Al Goodman & His Orchestra, Charles Harrison, Walt Johnston, Frances Langford & Male Quartet, Buddy Morrow, Mary O'Rourke, Prince's Orchestra, Walter Scanlan, Maggie Teyte.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Grey Home in the West
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 02:50 PM

Norfolk traditional singer Walter Pardon a parody to the same tune about a medal that all soldiers who fought in the 2nd World War were given called the 39-45 Star - the troops called it the Spam Medal
Oh, the 39-45 Star
It's the best little medal by far,
I've got one on my chest and one on my vest,
One on my pyjamas when I take my rest,
Oh, the 39-45 Star,
It's the best little medal by far,
But I won't ever wear it, there's too many share it;
The 39-45 Star.
Jim Carroll