Lyr Add: Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FATE OF WILL ROGERS & WILEY POST
From: Gene
Date: 15 Feb 06 - 12:15 AM

THE FATE OF WILL ROGERS & WILEY POST
Recorded by: Bill Cox
Probably from an old 78 RPM - Date UNK

Thanks to a fellow Mudcatter for the recording and to a local music pal for help in deciphering the lyrics.

Here's a story of two brave Americans
Will Rogers and Wiley Post.
They were both loved by their countrymen
Both known from coast to coast.

Oklahoma was where they both come from.
Each one was the other one's friend:
A beautiful friendship that lasted for years
Right up to the tragic end.

Will and Wiley had gone up to Alaska
To the land of the midnight sun,
Where the mountains are covered with snow all year
And the polar bears frolic in fun.

On a happy-go-lucky flight they went.
Alaska's not so far away.
Lighthearted Will Rogers and brave Wiley Post
Never dreamt fate would call that day.

Well, they left good old Fairbanks
On Friday that afternoon.
Point Barrow was 500 miles away.
Said Wiley, “We'll make it soon.”

But they hadn't gone more than about fifty miles.
The fog hindered them in their flight.
They had to descend down on Harding Lake
To get their directions right.

In resuming the journey, they started on.
Wiley knew he had lost control.
His airplane come crashing down to the earth
While death took its awful toll.

Was a Eskimo runner who brought the news,
The word about that tragic day.
Sergeant Morgan then sent the word out to the world
Of the death of Will & Wiley. [pronounced wile-ey]

That's the story of two brave Americans,
And of greater ones you'll never find.
They'll stand as examples of all that is great,
Examples for all mankind.

There's a place in that heavenly Promised Land,
Of places that heaven may host,
For those courageous and loyal such as
Will Rogers and Wiley Post.

Subject: RE: Lyr: Death of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: Gene
Date: 15 Feb 06 - 12:23 AM

data on William Jennings Cox [aka Bill Cox]

http://www.countryworks.com/artist_full.asp?KEY=COX

think the correct title is -

The Fate Of Will Rogers & Wiley Post

Subject: RE: Lyr: Death of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 15 Feb 06 - 01:17 AM

Wow. It could almost be a Red River Dave McEnery song a la Amelia Earhart's Last Flight.
Thanks, Gene.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr: Death of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 15 Feb 06 - 11:15 AM

Noah Wein was one of the first to get to the crash site. He sold photographs to the newspapers and used the money to start Air Alaska.
Chris

Subject: Lyr Add: WILEY AND WILL'S LAST FLIGHT (Bill Cox)
From: Gene
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 11:42 AM

Not certain of the lyrics in a couple of places

WILEY AND WILL'S LAST FLIGHT
Bill Cox

A shiny new plane shot into the sky
And away for a world of fun.
Our Wiley and Will were riding her high
For the land of the midnight sun.

And we lowly men so envied them then
As they roared away from our sight,
But the hand of the demon had triumphed again.
It was Wiley and Will's last flight.

The glimmering ice lay white down below,
And away in the southern sun
Lay the beautiful hill all covered with snow
Like a painting in pastels done.

The northland had lured with shiniest charm
Like a siren painted so bright,
But a trap was her gleaming white hand.
It was Wiley and Will's last flight.

Our Wiley and Will were happy that day.
They were kids at a pleasant game,
And a trusty new plane was humming so sweet
That a tragedy could not be.

The climbing great fog swelled under them then
And it turned the day into night,
And the aeroplane crashed to the gleaming white ice.
It was Wiley & Will's last flight.

The lone eagle's flown away up above
And he flies with the angels now.
------------ we'll cherish no more
As they have in the days gone by.

Two great men they were. We loved them so well,
But our hearts can ne'er be so light
As they were in the days our Wiley and Will
When they sped on their last flight.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: Naemanson
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 01:02 PM

Have you seen the musical about Will Rogers, The Will Rogers Follies or something like that? It is the story of Will Rogers' life. An actor is set in the audience. He's in a vintage suit and wears an eye patch. At different times during the play he stands up and invites Rogers to fly with him. The play's action makes the last time seem like a foreshadowing of doom. It's pretty eerie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: The Shambles
Date: 03 Nov 06 - 10:35 AM

Will Rogers was born this day (4th Novenber) in Oologah Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1879.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CHEROKEE KID (Fred Bailey) part 1
From: GUEST,Fred Bailey
Date: 04 Nov 06 - 08:09 AM

The called him the "Cherokee Kid" and the "Ropin' Fool"
'Cause he'd been crackin' jokes 'n' twirlin' ropes since he'd dropped out of school
He was a horse wrangler and a cowboy bum before he was really grown
From the Wild-West shows to vaudeville and an act that was all his own

But the center of his gravity was always in the plains
And he never met a man he didn't like
From the land of the Chickasaw, with a big wad of gum in his jaw
He said that "Congress wrote the jokes, but then of course they called 'em 'laws' "

Would 'ja know if Will Rogers ever was in your town?
I could bet he was just 'cause he was the travelin-est man around
Doin' gigs to hustle a little money up for the local Red Cross drives
To help the poor folks scramblin' for their farms and for their lives

I know my folks 'd bring him up when I was just a kid and then
How the one-liners 'd crackle 'round the table once again!
As he chased away pretensions with a wise-crack and a smile
And taught us all how to laugh at ourselves without anybody gettin' riled

But the center of his gravity was somewhere in the plains
And he never met a man he didn't like
And all he knew was what he read in the papers so he said
And said Congress wrote more jokes 'n him but then of course they was probably better fed

And then him 'n Wiley Post started out to fly around the world
Wiring newspaper dispatches back to give the folks a whirl
Promoting aviation, making friends in other lands
But it seemed nobody ever dreamed, they'd finally run out of sand

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CHEROKEE KID (Fred Bailey) part 2
From: GUEST,Fred Bailey
Date: 04 Nov 06 - 08:17 AM

Claire Okpeah ran to Barrow
16 miles across the tundra
From the seal camp at Walokpah on the shore
And the rescue boat sent flyin' down
The desolate Bering shoreline found
The wreckage of the Lockheed, nothin' more
So they pried the cabin open
Freed the bodies, bruised and broken
From the engine that was pushed back past the door
Cleared away the gear and signal flags
Wrapped both men in their sleeping bags
And cruised back North much slower than before

When they brought him home to Claremore in the center of the plains
'N' laid him deep beneath the prairie soil
And they raised a marble stand, 'n' people stood with empty hands
And they said "this country ain't never gonna see that kind of man again"
For the center of his gravity was always in the plains
And he never met a man he didn't like
All he knew was what he read in the papers so he said
So we can let Congress write their jokes
But somebody's just gotta get 'em said!
And the center of his gravity was somewhere in the plains
And he never met a man he didn't like



sorry 'bout that break in the middle
Copyright by BEE 2 thousand and something

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Nov 06 - 11:37 AM

Fred Bailey: By Googling your name along with "Will Rogers" I figured out that the song you just posted is your own song, THE CHEROKEE KID, which appears on your album "Ain't Comin' Back (This Year)," 2002.

You're welcome to post your own songs at Mudcat, but please don't be so modest as to leave them unidentified!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 08:34 AM

well, gee, gawrsh, us Okies is shy --
Just wanted to draw some attention to a really great and unique American who's writings are so often applicable to all our political problems of today. "I don't belong to any organized political party -- I'm a Democrat."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: GUEST,joseph keefe
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 08:27 AM

I have this 78 RPM record. "Conqueror" label

"Electrically Recorded"

"Not Licensed for Radio Broadcast"

"Vocal with Harmonica & Guitar Acc."


Bill Cox
The Dixie Songbird

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: Mark Ross
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 12:48 PM

Will Rogers last words; "Wiley, I think you have the patch on the wrong eye."


Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fate of Will Rogers & Wiley Post
From: GUEST,Fred Bailey
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 03:34 PM

"It's easy being a humorist -- I've got the whole government working for me."   Will Rogers