Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother

Subject: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,Elizabeth Block, Toronto, Canada
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 05:55 PM

Proper title is (I think) "Bridgework, or, The Dyin' Cowboy. Not a folk song, I don't think - a novelty song from the 30s. I don't need the song itself - I have the words, I have the tune, the chords are easy - in fact, I sang it a couple of weeks ago at Toronto's Sentimental Song Contest and won first prize.
What I want to know is: who wrote it? (Google yielded nothing.)

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 02:06 AM

So please share the words - I love old 'novelty songs'.

Subject: Lyr Add: TAKE MY BRIDGEWORK BACK TO MOTHER
From: GUEST,Elizabeth Block
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 02:09 PM

THE DYING COWBOY (TAKE MY BRIDGEWORK BACK TO MOTHER)
Words by Ted Fetter, music by Richard Lewine.
From the musical play "The Girl from Wyoming" with dialog by John Van Antwerp
First performed 1938; published by Samuel French, 1941.

A cowboy he lay dyin'
As cowboys often will,
And he called his pals around him
And he said, "I'm feelin' ill,
You can have my boots and saddle,
You can have my fancy vest,
But the only thing I ask you
Is this final last request:

Take my bridgework back to mother,
Lay it gently in her hand,
When my mother sees my bridgework
She is sure to understand.
I'm a dyin' cowboy,
How can you refuse?
Take my bridgework back to mother,
It is something she can use."

And when his song had ended,
As songs so often do,
The dyin' cowboy died
And his friends to him were true:
They rode in all directions
Till they found his poor motherrrr {accent on last syllable]
And they said, "Your son is dead, ma'am,
But his final last words were:

Take my bridgework back to mother, etc.

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 02:40 PM

Wonderful song, Elizabeth. Can you give us an ABC of the tune?   Bob

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 02:49 PM

I like that. Sort of reminds me of the cowboys around here in Idaho.

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,Elizabeth Block
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 06:36 PM

I guess I could, if I knew what an ABC of a tune is and how to do it. But I don't. Maybe I can find out.

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,Elizabeth Block
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 10:45 PM

Howard Kaplan sent me the info I needed to learn ABC, so I'll give it a try.

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: Kara
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 03:08 AM

What is Bridgework?

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: bbc
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 07:51 AM

dentures, ie. false teeth.

bbc

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: Kara
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 09:23 AM

Right, thanks BBC, that throws a whole new light on the whole cowboy thing...

Subject: Tune Add: BRIDGEWORK
From: GUEST,Elizabeth Block
Date: 01 May 06 - 08:09 PM

Here's the tune in ABC, as best as I can do. I hope it makes sense to people who read ABC. It strikes me as a graphic argument for the superiority of music written out on a staff.

N: Bridgework
M: 4/4
K: A major
L: 1/8
C: unknown
S: Elliot Forbes, who died recently. He conducted the Harvard Glee Club & Radcliffe Choral Society for years, and he and his wife used to sing this as their party piece. I asked him for a copy, and he sent me one - but didn't include composer or lyricist.
O: unknown, probably a novelty song from the 1930's
N: 1) This is in A major, and I am NOT indicating F#, C#, and G#, as they are included in the key signature.
2) I don't know how to notate tied notes, or dotted notes, so I'll use +, e.g.:
F/2+2E+E/2 = a 16th note on F [actually F#, of course] tied to a quarter note plus a sixteenth note on E
3) Bridgework is not quite the same as dentures. It is a false tooth, or a group of false teeth, which attach to the remaining teeth at either side of the gap where the missing teeth once were. And, of course, one person's bridgework won't fit another person! Even if the other person were missing the same teeth, everyone's mouth and dentition is unique. So, in the unlikely event that a cowboy possessed bridgework, his mother couldn't use it.

Verse:
E|EEEF CA,2E|FFA+A/2F/2 F/2+E2+E/2E/2F/2|FFA+A/2F/2 FE2C/2C/2|CB,B,A, B,3E/2E/2|
EEEF CA,2E|FFA+A/2F/2 F/2+E2+E/2E/2/F/2|FFA+A/2F/2 FE2C/2C/2|CB,B,A, B,4|
Chorus:
C2zD EcBA|BB7|d3d cBAB|c8|
C2zD EcBA|BB7|d3d cBAB|A8|
B+B/2A/2B4A2|F/2E/2+E7|B+B/2A/2B4c2|e8|
C2zD EcBA|BB7|d3d cBe+e/2c/2|A7

Subject: RE: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 02 May 06 - 11:28 AM

You are correct, Elizabeth; a set of dentures or false teeth is different from a bridge. I was speaking of the general meaning, to give some context for the song. There's also this definition of denture:

denture n. A partial or complete set of artificial teeth for either the upper or lower jaw.

best,

bbc

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,Dave Usher
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 04:35 PM

Looks like this song came from a broadway play called "The Girl from Wyoming" which ran from 10/29/1938 - 01/21/1939. According to IBDB, the
music was by Richard Lewine and lyrics by Ted Fetter

see: http://www.ibdb.com/ProductionSongs.aspx?ShowNo=3898&ProdNo=11590

I will copy Joe Hickerson cause I know he was asking my parents (Rich and Alex Usher) who used to sing this tune.

Regards,

Dave Usher
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,Dave Usher
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 05:43 PM

More info on the play:

Credits and Cast: http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=11590

Time Mag review Nov. 7, 1938 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788885,00.html

" The Girl from Wyoming (by J. van Ostend van Antwerp; produced by John & Jerrold Krimsky) is the creaking American Music Hall's annual horselaugh, garnished with beer & pretzels. The tale of "a Harvard graduate trapped by sex in the purple sage," The Girl from Wyoming provides an uncannily false picture of the West in the days of Diamond Dick saloons, half-breed beauties with roses between their teeth, and the Pony Express.

The essential thing about the production is the beer: after the fourth or fifth schooner the audience roundly cheers the Harvard man for refusing to touch liquor, just as roundly cheers the Girl from Wyoming (June Walker) for having been weaned on it, loudly hisses a villain who looks like a referee at a snake race"

---------
There is also a magazine story by the same name from 1931 which could be related:
de SILVA, PAULINE (chron.)

* * The Girl from Wyoming, (ss) Love Story Magazine Feb 7 1931
see: http://users.ev1.net/%5C~homeville/fictionmag/s471.htm

---------

There is also a woman by the name of Alberta Claire, a.k.a. "The Girl From Wyoming" who rode horseback all over the states and appears to be a bit of a wild lady. An 1915 example of her writings, which includes problems with drunk cowboys is here:
http://www.thelongridersguild.com/alberta.htm

Could she be the cause of this?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,The story of Alberta Claire
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 05:48 PM

More info on Alberta Claire:

see: http://www.thelongridersguild.com/new-historical.htm

Alberta Claire, "the Girl from Wyoming."

Alberta Claire made one of the most remarkable rides of the early twentieth century. The daughter of an English sea-captain who settled in frontier Wyoming, young Alberta set off in 1912 on an 8,000 mile journey which took her from Wyoming to Oregon, south to California, across the deserts of Arizona, and on to a triumphant arrival in New York City.

The photograph, taken during the course of her journey, depicts Alberta and her horse Bud on the beach in front of the well-known San Francisco tourist attraction, The Cliff House.

The diminutive pistol-packing Long Rider undertook her journey for two special reasons. Though few people now recall, women were denied the right to vote in 1912. Furthermore, polite society expected women to ride in a side saddle. Thus Alberta made her ride in an effort to promote the still-revolutionary ideas of a woman's right to vote and her right to ride astride! After Teddy Roosevelt endorsed women's suffrage in the Presidential election of that year, the 500 year old use of the side saddle disappeared from use almost overnight thanks to Alberta Claire and women like her.

In a further astonishing discovery, The Long Riders' Guild has documented how Alberta then rode from New York to El Paso, Texas. Upon receiving news of the ongoing Mexican revolution, Alberta crossed the border where she interviewed and photographed the famous guerrilla leader, Pancho Villa. Furthermore, Alberta was instrumental in filming Villa during the 1914 battle of Ojinaga. A 2003 film starring Antonio Banderos as Pancho Villa, recounted the making of this movie, but failed to recognise the importance of Alberta Claire. This legendary Long Rider may well have been the first female film producer in history!

Despite her colourful and well-documented early life, The Guild can find no trace of Alberta Claire after the publication of her Mexican movie story in 1916. If any of our visitors have any clues, please contact The Guild.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,David Usher
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 06:00 PM

More info on the "Girl from Wyoming" play.

It turns out that the papers of the lighting designer, peggy clark, were rurned over to the library of congress. Mr. Zvonchenko is the curator of these papers.

see: http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9804/clark.html

Perhaps there is something in these papers tracking the play back to Alberta Claire?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 11:34 PM

There's an excerpt from her book which apparently was never published, along with a couple of pictures of her, are also at the Long Rider's site on this page.

This is fascinating. All of my years growing up in WY and then later as an adult there I've never heard of her!

Thanks, folks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,Elizabeth Block
Date: 17 Jan 07 - 05:08 PM

I just googled this song again, and this time up came Internet Broadway Database, a website of Broadway musicals. "Bridgework" is from a musical/burlesque called "The Girl from Wyoming, which ran briefly on Broadway from Oct 1938 to Jan 1939. Music by Richard Lewine, who died only in 2005, lyrics by Ted Fetter. So: now I know!

My guess would be that the sheet music is available somewhere - maybe the Library of Congress, maybe one of the many other collections of popular songs, some online, some not online now but may be in future.

You learn something every day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST,David Usher
Date: 17 Aug 19 - 02:49 PM

If you want to call me 314 991-1959 I will be happy to sing the tune for you. Have speakerphone and recorder ready to go. My parents did this song nearly every show they played as long as I can remember.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Aug 19 - 01:05 AM

I just realized that my mother put the music and lyrics of this tune in her Mel Bay book "Sidesplitters" there are a bunch of other hilarious and sweet tunes in it that are quite unusual. Ebay usually has used copies of this book inexpensively.

https://www.melbay.com/Products/20676EB/side-splitters.aspx

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: DavidUsher
Date: 21 Mar 20 - 04:07 AM

I found a book in google books, "The Complete Book of 1930's Broadway Musicals" with a hilarious writeup of the Girl from Wyoming. See page 519, 1938-1939 season. You will need to scroll up a bit to see the full writeup. This play apparently was a compendium of tongue-in-cheek tunes and buffoo
nery about cowboys.

See; https://books.google.com/books?id=L0hNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA519&lpg=PA519&dq=%22take+my+bridgework+back+to+mother%22&source=bl&ots=15AGoDzDCW&sig=ACfU3U2Hi-c8X6A1rBBda8vMRzNJExl0LQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio15XHi6voAhWnTt8KHQIBCroQ6AEwBXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22take%20my%20bridgework%20back%20to%20mother%22&f=false

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: DavidUsher
Date: 21 Mar 20 - 04:09 AM

the song was also published in The National Song Parade; Hits of Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday. N.Y.-World's Fair Edition-S.F. (1940). Abe books has a copy right now.

https://www.abebooks.com/magazines-periodicals/National-Song-Parade-Hits-Today-Tomorrow/20278246565/bd

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Take My Bridgework Back to Mother
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 21 Mar 20 - 10:09 AM

I had such a laugh reading the lyrics. In the 1930s, most bridgework were made of precious metals either gold, silver or an alloy of either one with stronger metals. I have been told by grandparents that people who died often insisted that a family member take them from the undertaker who could make a tidy profit from smelting these down and separating out the gold or silver for sale. How much they were worth is a mystery to me but they must have been worth something given the song.

Today's bridgework is still made with metal alloys and then skillfully bonded to ceramic. I have four major bridges but my dentist tells me the labs don't even want them back when they wear out because the modern methods make it difficult to safely recycle the components. I have seen him toss my older bridges being replaced into the medical waste chute.