Railroad Corral /Rye Whiskey Same Melody

Subject: Railroad Corral /Rye Whiskey Same Melody
From: Cruiser
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 10:11 PM

Two of my old favorites. I was thinking about these tunes today for the first time in a year or so and realized they had the same melody.

Jack-O-Diamonds also is the same melody as Rye Whiskey as discussed in previously threads.

This is another of many examples of how a melody can transcend one song to grace the lyrics of another.

Cruiser

Subject: RE: Railroad Corral /Rye Whiskey Same Melody
From: Peace
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 10:28 PM

That brings to mind "John Brown's Body" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Neat thread, Cruiser.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC, UPDATED
From: Peace
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 10:31 PM

And of course, the great lyric by Mark Twain entitled "The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Updated":

Mine eyes have seen the orgy of the launching of the Sword;
He is searching out the hoardings where the stranger's wealth is stored;
He hath loosed his fateful lightnings, and with woe and death has scored;
His lust is marching on.

I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the Eastern dews and damps;
I have read his doomful mission by the dim and flaring lamps—
His night is marching on.

I have read his bandit gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my pretensions, so with you my wrath shall deal;
Let the faithless son of Freedom crush the patriot with his heel;
Lo, Greed is marching on!"

We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat;*
Greed is seeking out commercial souls before his judgement seat;
O, be swift, ye clods, to answer him! be jubilant my feet!
Our god is marching on!

In a sordid slime harmonious Greed was born in yonder ditch,
With a longing in his bosom—and for others' goods an itch.
As Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich—
Our god is marching on.

Subject: RE: Railroad Corral /Rye Whiskey Same Melody
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Aug 06 - 10:44 PM

Hadn't seen that for years, Peace. Twain was brilliant in his diagnosis of the human condition.

Subject: Lyr Add: FAREWELL TAE TARWATHIE
From: Cruiser
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 01:30 AM

Golly Geewillikers, there is another tune that has the same melody! I am not sure why this melody had been pestering me lately, but it is a great earworm and a fun tune to play on the fiddle. It is:

FAREWELL TAE TARWATHIE

Farewell tae Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hill,
And the dear land of Crimond, I bid ye farewell,
I am bound out for Greenland and ready to sail,
In hopes to find riches in hunting the whale.

Adieu to my comrades, for awhile we must part,
And likewise the dear lass what fair won my heart,
The cold ice of Greenland, my love will not chill,
The longer my absence, more loving she feels.

The cold coast of Greenland is barren and bare,
No seed-time nor harvest is ever known there,
The birds here sing sweetly o'er mountain and dale,
But there is nae a birdie who'll sing to the whale.

There is no habitation for a man to live there,
And the king of that country is the fierce Greenland bear,
There'll be no temptation to tarry long there,
With our ship bumper full, we'll homeward repair.

At:

Farewell tae Tarwathie

There is this information and a variation on the lyrics:

{Quote}
Farewell tae Tarwathie (Farewell to Tarwathie), first played by Scottish whalers, is known in the new world as the cowboy classic The Railroad Corral. Tarwathie was a farm in the lap of Mormond Hill, near the village of Strichen in Aberdeenshire. When times were hard for the highland drovers they would exchange their crooks for berths on whaling ships. Eventually thousands left the highlands taking both their herding and whaling experience with them. Many settled in Canada and many more were lured out West to become ranchers or cowboys. The Scottish and Gaelic country tunes which they played on tin whistles and fiddles gradually took on the flavor and lyrics of the new world. {End Quote}

You can hear the clip of the song here at Barnes & Noble from the Dover Road CD:

Bonnie Dundee/Fareweel Tae Tarwathie/The Railroad Corral


Maybe Sandy Paton can help with the "most appropriate" lyrics to this tune before it is added to the DigiTrad.

Cruiser