Lyr Add: The Cowboy's Return

Subject: Lyr Add: THE COWBOY'S RETURN
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 01:55 PM

Lyr. Add: THE COWBOY'S RETURN

A little girl all in her garden,
When a brave young cowboy came riding by.
He rode up to the fence beside her,
Saying, "Pretty fair miss, will you be my bride?"

"Oh, no, Oh, no, Oh no," she answered,
"How can you impose on a girl like me
When I have a true love in among those cowboys,
Who has seven long years been gone from me?"

"Perhaps he's dead or perhaps he's drowned,
Or perhaps he's by some Indian slain,
Or perhaps he's to some pretty girl married.
He'll never return to you again."

"Oh, if he's dead, I hope he's happy,
Or if he's by some Indian slain;
And if he's to some pretty girl married,
I'll love the girl that married him."

He took a ring from off his finger;
She knew the ring that she gave him.
He placed the ring upon her finger;
The little girl fell at his feet.

He picked her up in his arms so fondly,
And kisses gave was one, two, three
Saying, "I am your own true cowboy,
Who has seven long years been gone from thee."

The singer, John L. Perry, was born in 1872.
Obviously a version of "The Sailor's Return," "one of the most popular songs found among cowboys."
E. and C. O. Moore, 1964, "Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest," no, 83, pp. 187-180.