Lyr Req: Bosque County Romance (Steve Fromholz)

Subject: author of: Basque County Romance
From:
Date: 05 Jan 97 - 12:20 PM

Way back in the 70's in Kalamazoo there was a local
husband and wife team (schoolteachers) who sang a song
called "Basque County Romance". The first verse is:

"Mary Martin was a school girl, seventeen years old
Married Billy Archer about fourteen years ago.
Not even out of highschool - folks said it wouldn't last
But when you grow up in the country,
boy, you grow up mighty fast.
They were married in a hurry,
that spring 'fore school was out.
Folks said that she was pregnant
Just wait, and you'll find out.
It came about that winter, one grey November 'morn
The first of many more to come,
A Baby boy was born."

I re-discovered it in books left untouched through many
moves, and have been singing it, but I would like to know
who should be getting credit for authorship.

They also sang "Santa Fe River" and "Comin' Down Easy",
if any one has the lyrics to either could you please pass them on?

Subject: Lyr Add: BOSQUE COUNTY ROMANCE (Steve Fromholz)
From:
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 02:22 AM

Steve Fromholz
BOSQUE COUNTY ROMANCE

At least this is how I wrote it but on the Frummox album, I was capoed at the 2nd fret playing in A. Best wishes,
Steve Fromholz

Mary Martin was a schoolgirl, just 17 or so
When she married Billy Archer 'bout 14 years ago.
Not even out of high school, folks said it wouldn't last,
But when you grow up in the country, you grow up mighty fast.

They married in a hurry, in March 'fore school was out.
Folks said she was pregnant. "Just wait and you'll find out."
It came about that winter one gray November morn.
The first of many more to come, a baby boy was born.

CHORUS: And cattle is their game.
And Archer is the name they give to the acres that they own.
If the Brazos don't run dry and the newborn calves don't die,
Another year for Mary will have flown.
Another year for Mary will have flown.

Now Billy he kept what cattle his daddy could afford,
Bouncin' cross the cactus in a 1950 Ford,
But the cows were sick and skinny and the weeds was all that grew,
But Billy kept the place alive, the only thing he knew.

And Mary cooked the supper and Mary scrubbed the floor,
And Mary busted horses and blew the baby's nose,
And Mary and her shotgun kept the rattlesnakes away,
But how she kept on smilin', no one could ever say.

Repeat Chorus

Now the drought of '57 was a curse upon the land.
No one in Bosque County could give Bill a helpin' hand.
The ground was cracked and broken, and the truck was out of gas,
And cows can't feed on prickly pears, instead of growin' grass.

Then the weather took the water and a snakebite took a child,
And the fire in the old barn took the hay that Bill had piled.
The mortgage got the money and the screwworms got the cows.
The years had come for Mary; she's waitin' for 'em now.

Repeat Chorus

Repeat Daybreak first verse.

Subject: RE: author: Bosque County Romance
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 04:39 PM

Bosque County, Texas, named for the Bosque River, county organized in 1854. Many Norwegian settlers, the first in 1841, many more in 1854 when 320 acres were offered to each family. The Bosque cuts through the County, and the Brazos forms the eastern boundary. About 60 miles south of Ft. Worth, primarily a farming area but industry growing. The 3-story limestone courthouse dates from 1886.

Excellent song.

Subject: RE: author: Bosque County Romance
From: Midchuck
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 04:47 PM

We sing it sometimes. Line 6 of the second verse is tricky. You have to avoid getting it switched around.

Peter.

Subject: Lyr Add: DAYBREAK and TRAINRIDE (Steve Fromholz)
From: GUEST,InvisibleInk
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 05:15 PM

This brings back a flood of memories - I used to play this quite a bit & most artists (at least in Texas) performed it as part of a 3 song set known as 'The Texas Trilogy' (the other two songs are 'Daybreak' and 'Trainride').

The lyrics to those 2 songs - which also include 2 narratives:

Daybreak

Em       D            G          D                A       E            C       E E/F E
6'oclock silence of a new day beginning
    Em         D          Bm                      A          D          A
is heard in a small Texas
Em       D            G          D                A         E         C       E E/F E
Like a signal from nowhere the people who live there
    Em         D          Bm                      A      D       A
are up and runnin' around
                E                           A                   A                      D
'cause there's bacon to fry and there's biscuits to bake
       E                      A                                  A                      D
On a stove that the Salvation Army won't take
          E                   A                                  A                      D
And you open the windows and turn on the fan
         Em               A            F            B            A       D       C      A
'cause it's hotter than hell when the sun hits the land
Em       D            G          D                A       E            C       E E/F E
Walter and Fanny well they own the grocery
that sells most all that you need
They've been up and workin' since early this mornin'
they've got the whole village to feed
They put out fresh eggs and throw the bad ones away
that rotted because of the heat yesterday
The store is all dark so you can't see the flies
that settle on round steak and last Monday's pies

Sleepy Hill's drugstore and the cafe are open
the coffee is bubbling hot
'Cause the folks who ain't workin' gonna sit there till sundown
and talk about what they ain't got
Someone just threw a clutch in the ol pickup truck
Seems like they're ridin' on a streak of bad luck
The doctor bills came and the well has gone dry
Seems their grown kids don't care whether they live or die

Spoken:
Hell I can remember when Kopperl, Texas was a good place for a man to live
and raise a family. 'Course that was before the cotton gin closed down.
Has it been that long ago? You know it seems like only yesterday ol Steve Hughes
lost his arm in that infernal machine and walked all the way home a bleedin'
to death. 'Course the new highway helped some. They dammed up the Brazos to
build Lake Whitney. Brought some fishermen down from Dallas and Ft. Worth.
Town shure has been quiet since they closed down the depot and built that
new trestle of west of town.

You know the train just don't stop here anymore
No- the train just don't stop here anymore........



Trainride
         D                               C
Well the last time I remember that train stoppin at the depot
         G                           D
was when me and my Aunt Veeda came a ridin' back from Waco
    D                            C                            G
I remember I was wearin' my long pants and I was sharin' conversation
                   D
with a man who sold ball point pens and paper
       C                                     D
And the train stopped once in Clifton where my Aunt bought me some ice cream
   C                                 D
My mom was there to meet us when the train pulled into Kopperl


CHORUS:
    C                   D               
Now kids at night break window lights
       C                D   
And the sound of trains only remains
       C               D            
In the memories of the ones like me
         C                         D
Who have turned their backs on the splintered cracks
       C                      D
In the walls that stand on the railroad land
         C                D                  G
Where we used to play and run away, from the depot man

Spoken:
Yeah, but the train just don't stop here anymore


Well I remember me and brother used to run down to the depot
Just to listen to the whistle blow when the train pulled into Kopperl
And the engine big and shiny black as coal that fed the fire
And the engineer he'd smile and say Howdy, how ya fellas.
And the people by the windows playin cards and readin papers
Looked as far away to us as next summer school vacation

CHORUS


Spoken:
I wonder why it is you never see no young folks around Kopperl.
Seems like as soon as the first of May rolls around and all the seniors
graduate, they go runnin' off to Cleburne and Ft. Worth and get 'em a good
job.+++STOP HERE!!+++ you know and they work at the cement plant in Cleburne
and the phone company in Ft. Worth. Course there's some that never leave
Bosque County, Texas. Their final reward is being carried down to the
Brister Funeral Home in Meridian, the county seat, and theyre laid out
in state and the professional mourners come by. The family holds court
and then that's over and they haul the body back up to Kopperl where it's
laid out in state once again in the Church of Christ, the Methodist Church
or the Baptist Church - Anyone of the big three. They open the coffin and
the mourners walk by and say "My don't he look natural"