Lyr Req: The Day of Falling Cows (Tom Paxton)

Subject: Lyr Add: A COWARDLY ACT (Charlie Ipcar)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Apr 02 - 12:02 PM

It's been brought to my attention that Tom Paxton was also inspired by an urban legend to compose a song about a cow falling from the sky and sinking a Japanese fishing trawler; Garrison Keillor was apparently singing it recently for one of his early morning spots on Public Radio. Anyone got the lyrics handy or a Paxton e-mail address (PM it to me if you do)?

As some of you know from an old song challenge, I composed my own response to this apparent news article, which I'll paste again below (to line up the chords copy and repast into WORD/Times/12):

A COWARDLY ACT
(Words by Charlie Ipcar © 1998 After a news story by Dave Barry Maine Sunday Telegram, 2/22/98 Originally in Air Transport World, January 1998 Tune: adapted from traditional Irish "The Son of a Gambolier")


C---------------------------------G7----------C
Now you've heard of the Titanic, an iceberg her de-mise;
-------F-----------------------------C
You've heard of Amelia Earhart, whose plane plunged from the skies;
----F--------------------------------------------C
But have you heard of the Kasii Maru, her fate true tragedy;
----------------------------------------G7------------C
When she was sunk by a falling cow while trawling on the sea?

Refrain:

------F--------------------------------C
While trawling on the sea, me lads, while trawling on the sea,
-----------------------------------------G7-----------C
When she was sunk by a falling cow while trawling on the sea.

This cowardly act took place, 'tis said, in nineteen-ninety-seven,
The Kasii Maru cruised the Sea of Japan, no eye was turned to Heaven;
When suddenly from overhead there came a plaintive "Moooo!"
It was udder terror for her crew as that boat was stove in two.(REF)

"How could a cow," you might well ask, "fall from the sky above?"
They have no wings to ride the winds, unlike the turtledove;
The truth would surely challenge the most bizarre criteria –
That cow'd been rustled by Russians from her pasture in Siberia.(REF)

Those Russians loaded up that cow on a military jet,
They'd not been flying long before Bossy became upset;
She began to thrash about and threatened to stampede,
In panic they opened the cargo doors at 30,000 feet.(REF)

And so it was that cow dashed out into the skies so blue,
She struck the trawler far belowww, and sore perplexed her crew;
But them fishermen they all survived and lived to tell the tale;
They'll soon be milking royalties when their agent makes a sale.(REF)

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paxton Song of Cow Sinking Trawler
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 28 Apr 02 - 06:06 PM

Charley, If you go to prairiehome.org, you can listen to any of the archived broadcasts of Prairie Home Companion and download them. They also have lyrics to some songs available and can tell you where to find others.

Good luck.

Sonja

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paxton Song of Cow Sinking Trawler
From: Gareth
Date: 28 Apr 02 - 06:20 PM

"Says Farmer Giles, a wiping his eye,
Thank the Lord that Cows don't fly"

Gareth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paxton Song of Cow Sinking Trawler
From: Wolfgang
Date: 29 Apr 02 - 05:41 AM

or Tom Lehrer's song about them: '...don't sail underneath when they fly by'

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paxton Song of Cow Sinking Trawler
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Apr 02 - 08:25 AM

Wolfgang, I hadn't thought about re-working the Lehrer song.

Sonja, I'll give the PHC website a check but I doubt that they'll have something posted so soon.

I've tried the Paxton website but so far haven't run across the song there or any way to address a query to Paxton himself.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DAY OF FALLING COWS (Tom Paxton)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Apr 02 - 11:19 AM

Ahah! The Prairie Home Companion Website provided a link to Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac where MPR conveniently provides a transcript of what played on particular days. The result is this inspiring poem by Mr. Paxton:

THE DAY OF FALLING COWS
(Poem by Tom Paxton © 2002)

The Russian cargo plane sat on the tarmac,
Somewhere in Siberia, waiting to fly.
The crew, who thought that they were wild cowboyskis,
Had stolen all these cattle - they weren't sure why.
They drove their stolen herd aboard the airplane;
The plane roared down the runway in the dawn.
The Russian rustlers gave each other high fives,
And soon the herd of stolen cattle was gone.

The cattle-bearing cargo plane kept climbing,
And finally leveled off at cruising speed.
The herd began to show some signs of panic;
The herd began to threaten to stampede.
The crew tried singing cowboy songs to soothe them -
It only seemed to scare the cattle more.
And now the crew themselves began to lose it,
And someone opened up the cargo door.

The cattle had been milling around in terror
Round the cargo hold they trampled about.
They saw the cargo door begin to open,
And, cattle being cattle, they ran out,
Mooing like a herd of Texas longhorns,
Out the cargo door of the plane they ran,
But, instead of the frozen soil of old Siberia,
They were five and a half miles over the Sea of Japan.

Meanwhile, on the tranquil sea below them,
On the shimmering waters of green and blue,
Bobbed a busy fleet of Japanese fishermen,
Casting nets and doing what fishermen do.
All at once, the fishermen were frozen
If you had been there, you'd have been frozen, too
To hear a sound all fishermen hear with horror:
The sound of falling cattle going "Moo!"

The cattle started hitting the troubled waters;
They'd hit the Sea of Japan with a water "Splat!"
But someone happened to be beneath a big one;
It went right through and sank that sucker flat.
The eland fears the roar of a hungry lion;
A mouse goes weak at the sound of a cat's meows,
But these days, Japanese fishermen live in terror,
And listen for the sound of falling cows.

Cheerily.
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paxton Song of Cow Sinking Trawler
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Aug 04 - 07:17 PM

Here's a link to my website for a MP3 sample of "A Cowardly Act:"Click here! If you want to record this song, please contact me first.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble