Lyr Add: Your Mother Still Prays For You, Jack

Subject: Lyr Add: YOUR MOTHER STILL PRAYS FOR YOU, JACK
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 12:18 AM

Lyr. Add: YOUR MOTHER STILL PRAYS FOR YOU, JACK

The night was dark and stormy,
The wind was howling wild,
As an aged mother gazed upon
the portrait of her child.
As she gazed on the baby's features
That once filled her heart with joy,
He's now in this wide world roaming,
That mother's long lost boy.

Chorus
Your mother still prays for you, Jack.
Your mother still prays for you;
In a home far over the ocean,
Your mother still prays for you.

At last there came a letter,
It was deeply edged in black,
From a comrade long forgotten
Who still remembered Jack.
They have lain your dear old mother
In a grave so dark and cold;
And she wants her boy who is roaming
To meet her on the streets of gold.

Chorus

His stony heart was broken,
As he thought of his mother dear;
And in spite of his comrades mocking, (laughing)
He could not keep back his tears,
In spite of the great temptations
That once filled his heart with tears.
So he started for Heaven that evening,
As sweetly the people did sing.
(As sweet love the people did sing)
Alternative readings in ( ).

From songs of the Carter Family. Sometimes attributed to A. P. Carter, but the song appeared on Vocalion C2435, 10/?/28, recorded by Otto Gray and His Cowboy Band. 1926-1933
This 1928 recording seems to be the first appearance of the song.

This song is credited with possibly being the precursor of "Cowboy Jack," also recorded by the Carter Family, and in the DT. This well-known cowboy song appeared about 1931-1933 (the date 1928 in the Traditional Ballad Index may refer to "Your Mother Still Prays For You, Jack"). Both use the same or very similar tunes.

Does anyone have the recording by Otto Gray and His Cowboy Band? Are the words the same as the Carter version?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Your Mother Still Prays For You, Jack
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 07:39 AM

Death is not involved in the old song (1905) "Only a Message from Home Sweet Home," but are there transitional versions to "Your Mother Still Prays for You, Jack"?
Thread 44022: Only a Message

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Your Mother Still Prays For You, Jack
From: masato sakurai
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 09:27 AM

According to Meade et al.'s Country Music Sources (2002, p. 325), this song (by F.M. Eliot, wds, ca. 1893) was first recorded by Ruth Donaldson & Helen Jepsen (ca. 06/03/1927, 06/15/1927; Gennett unissued); Howard Harvey's "Mother's Prayers For You" (12/20/1927) is the next; and Otto Gray's Oklahoma Cowboy Band's (01/17/1928) the third. The Carter Family's recording (Issued: July 1935) is at Honkingduck.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Your Mother Still Prays For You, Jack
From: M.Ted
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 01:29 PM

Thanks for the lyrics and links, everyone--til you brought it back to me, this thread, this song was only a distant recollection--

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Your Mother Still Prays For You, Jack
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 10:40 PM

I haven't been able to find a copy of the original 1893 lyrics, nor the lyrics used by Otto Gray.
The Carter Family version, and a few post-Carter 'folk' renditions are all that seem to be available.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Your Mother Still Prays For You, Jack
From: masato sakurai
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 11:24 PM

References given in Meade et al.'s index are: Buford, Mary Elizabeth, Folk Songs Of Florida And Texas (M.A. Thesis, Southern Methodist U., Dallas, Tex., 1941, p. 186), and Songs - Otto Gray And His Oklahoma Cowboys (Stillwater, Okla., 1930, p. 17).