04 Feb 98 - 12:09 AM (#20583) Subject: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: RonU I know this seems perhaps insignificant but here goes anyway. In the song "Streets of Laredo (the cowboy's lament)" there is the line where the young cowboy was all wrapped in white linen. I don't get it, never did. Originally before I had seen all the words, I thought he was already dead but, the words in the database make it clear he died after telling his sad story. What gives ?? |
04 Feb 98 - 12:50 AM (#20586) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: leprechaun I always thought of it as a shroud, or something they wrap him in before they stuff him in a coffin. Sort of like a cotton bag you wrap around a deer or elk carcass to keep the flies out. I think the idea that he dies after the song is just a matter of poetic license. Mothers don't let your babies grow up to be turtle boys. I've got to make it to Rose's back door. But I'll be better, Doc, as soon as I am able. |
04 Feb 98 - 08:33 AM (#20600) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Susan-Marie Yeah, he must be dead, because in addition to being wrapped in a shroud, he's "cold as the clay". I always figured he was a ghost, which is why he could be dead but singing the song. Or maybe the writer was looking at the deceased young man, imagining what he would say if he could talk. |
04 Feb 98 - 10:35 AM (#20611) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Bruce O. He originally died in Ireland. Irish broadsides of the song, c 1800, are "The Unfortuante Rake" and "The Buck's Elegy". It was the mercury given him to control his syphilis that killed him. I can't remember whether the mercury was in the form of calomel or corrosive sublimate (chlorides of mercury). Susan of DT? |
04 Feb 98 - 11:01 AM (#20615) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Jon W. I searched the database and found several versions including parodies but nothing like the original "Unfortunate Rake." Anyone care to submit it? |
04 Feb 98 - 12:02 PM (#20616) Subject: Lyr Add: THE BUCK'S ELEGY From: Bruce O. [This version is obviously a bit corrupt. 2nd and 3rd verses don't agree about the mercury.]
The Buck's Elegy
As I was walking down Covent Garden,
Had I but known what his disorder was,
Doctors take away your mercury bottles,
When I am dead wrap me up in funeral fine,
There is Capt.---, and likewise Capt. Townsend.
Come bumble your drums, bumble them with crapes of black, From Holloway and Black, 'Later English broadside Ballads', I, #17, where references to traditional versions of the British Isles are given. I don't seem to have a copy of "The Unfortunate Rake" version. The Irish tune "The Unfortunate Rake" is in Crosby's 'Irish Musical Repository', but it does not sound to me to be at all related to America tunes to "Tom Sherman's Barroom", "St. James Infirmary (or Hospital)" or "Streets of Loredo", that I have heard.
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04 Feb 98 - 12:48 PM (#20618) Subject: Tune Add: THE UNFORTUNATE RAKE From: Bruce O. All but last d are sharpened, but even if last were, the tune would not be one of the 7 normal 'Greek' modes. I have not found the tune elsewhere under any title. 'Theme code' is 51H2H4 11H2H5.
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04 Feb 98 - 02:06 PM (#20625) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Bill in Alabama "Streets of Laredo" is an American adaption of an English ballad (a broadside, I seem to recall). I can't remember the title: I believe that it's called "When I Was a Soldier," or "The Soldier's Lament." Maddy Prior did a fine job with it on one of the Steeleye Span albums, and even the tune was basically unchanged. |
04 Feb 98 - 11:27 PM (#20678) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: RonU Looks to me like the dead Irishman was talking (or singing), also. |
09 Feb 98 - 10:54 PM (#21097) Subject: Lyr Add: DYING OUTFIT ('Streets of Laredo' parody) From: rich r THE DYING OUTFIT
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo,
I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy.
Now you got no outfit, so you're not a cowboy.
You fit in my outfit. I fit in your outfit.
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo, A version of this was recorded by Tom & Dick Smothers rich r |
09 Feb 98 - 11:26 PM (#21102) Subject: Lyr Add: STREETS OF LAREDO (corrected verse) From: rich r OK so I cannot spell "Wlaked", at least I'm consistently inconsistent. I noticed in the DT that the 2nd line of verse 11 or 12 of "Streets of Laredo" apparently dropped in by mistake from some other song. The verse should be:
Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin The long version of the song in DT is the same as "The Cowboy's Lament" published in 1908 in Songs of the Cowboys by N Howard "Jack" Thorp. Thorp writes, "Authorship credited to Troy Hale, Battle Creek, Nebraska. I first heard it sung in a bar-room at Wisner, Nebraska, about 1886." rich r |
10 Feb 98 - 12:50 AM (#21106) Subject: Lyr Add: ST. JAMES HOSPITAL (from A. L. Lloyd) From: Paul Stamler Another version of the song is "St. James' Hospital", which makes it sound as though he's being wrapped in linen (or, in some versions, flannel) because he has the shivers. Here are the lyrics as recorded by A. L. Lloyd: As I was out walking by St. James' hospital I was out walking down by there one day I spied a young man all wrapped in white linen All wrapped in white linen, though warm was the day. I asked him what ailed him, I asked him what failed him I asked him the cause of all his complaint "It's all on account of some handsome young woman 'Tis she that has caused me to weep and lament" "And had she but told me before she disordered me Had she but told me of it in time I might have got pills or salts of white mercury But now I'm cut down in the height of me prime." "Get six young soldiers to carry me coffin Six young girls to sing me a song And have each of them carry a bunch of green laurel So they can't smell me as they bear me along." "And don't muffle your drums, me jewel, me joy Play your fife merry as you bear me along And fire your bright muskets all over me coffin Sayin', 'There goes an unfortunate lad to his home'." It was recorded on Lloyd's Topic album "First Person", and has been reissued on the superb Fellside CD "Classic A. L. Lloyd". Peace. Paul |
10 Feb 98 - 02:40 AM (#21115) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Rick---obaoighill@earthlink.net Another version of the song above appears on Christy Moore's "Prosperous". It is entitled "Locke Hospital" and it tells the tale of a young soldier who dies of a sexually transmitted disease. On that note... Slainte Rick |
10 Feb 98 - 01:42 PM (#21138) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Jerry Friedman Maybe you know this, Bruce, but that D# makes it "harmonic minor" instead of "natural minor". If there were C's and some of them were sharped too (especially when they came before D#'s), it would be "melodic minor", like "Greensleeves". I like harmonic minor because it sounds Jewish. In fact, that extra-long step between the 6th and 7th degrees has been called the "Jewish third". |
10 Feb 98 - 01:56 PM (#21141) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Bruce O. Harmonic and melodic minors seem to me to be uncommon, but also, I think ABC only recognizes the 7 normal 'Greek' modes. I have even used phoney keys in ABC to get the right number of sharps or flats on the key signature for a few tunes, so don't take the specified key litterally. The actual keynote in ABC will be the real one you enter in in spite of what the key signature mayn say. [Those that are unfamiliar with harmonic and melodic minors might consult the tune coding section near the end of Herrmann and Huntington's 'Sam Henry's Songs of the People'. I think this is taken from Bertrand Bronson, but I don't have his publications on the subject] |
10 Feb 98 - 06:55 PM (#21167) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Susan of DT Searching for most of these "Unfortunate Rake" variants show up a DT #350. Then search for #350 to find 8 variants already in the database. Thanx for the additional ones. |
10 Feb 98 - 07:41 PM (#21170) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Charlie Baum While we're on the subject of "St. James Hospital", I've been searching for a recording I once heard on the radio (WPKN-FM in Bridgeport, CT) of Doc Watson singing it a cappella (as opposed to the recordings where he accompanies himself on guitar, which I already have). Can anyone supply me with the name of the album containing the version I'm seeking? Thanks. |
11 Feb 98 - 02:21 AM (#21178) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Paul Stamler Doc's version appears on his first Vanguard album, "Doc Watson" (Vanguard VSD-79152). Don't know if it was reissued on "The Vanguard Years". He may also have recorded it elsewhere. Peace. Paul |
11 Feb 98 - 01:27 PM (#21202) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Paul Stamler Uh, whoops, let me correct myself. The version on "Doc Watson" (Vanguard) may be accompanied by guitar. I don't have it here, so can't check. But the version on "Live and Pickin'" (United Artists UA-LA-943-H, 1979) is a capella; it's combined with an instrumental, "Frosty Morn". Peace. Paul |
25 May 98 - 12:42 AM (#29201) Subject: Lyr Add: STREETS OF LAREDO (parody) From: Joe Offer This one always seems bring a little cheer when people are grouchy. It's a favorite in our song circle in Sacramento. It may pre-date the Smothers Brothers rendition. -Joe Offer- STREETS OF LAREDO (Parody by Milt & Marge Lev and Walt Robertson, with help from a very large bottle of wine) As I walked out on the streets of Laredo, As I walked out in Laredo one day, I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen All wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay. I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy You see by my outfit that I am one too We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys For I have an outfit and you have one too. My outfit fits neatly; it's a neat-fitting outfit Your white linen neat-fitting outfit fits you So we are two cowboys in white linen outfits White linen outfits that fit neatly too. When I'm out of my outfit, I am not a cowboy When you're out of your outfit, then neither are you But we're both fit out in our neat-fitting outfits So I am a cowboy and you are one too. Let's see if your neat-fitting outfit will fit me Let's see if my neat-fitting outfit fits you If my outfit fits you and your outfit fits me Then we can trade outfits and they will fit too. As the outfitted cowboys were trading their outfits Their neat-fitting outfits of white linen hue An outlaw passed by in his black outlaw outfit And spied the two cowboys and shot up the two. As I walked out on the streets of Laredo, As I walked out in Laredo one day, I spied two dead cowboys all wrapped in white linen All wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay. |
25 May 98 - 09:49 AM (#29226) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Will Peter Beagle (author of "The Last Unicorn" and several other books of fantasy) wrote a lovely book about him and a friend riding scooters from New York to the Bay Area in the early 1960s, called "I See By My Outfit". A recurrent theme is him singing the title-line to his friend. |
25 May 98 - 02:16 PM (#29251) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Cuilionn Och, ye've given me a richt guid laugh wi' a' yer outfittin'... Jist thocht I'd drap a wee line in tae mention that Eric Bogle's sang "No Man's Land" (alsae ca'd "Willie McBride") brings in th' same chorus as a' th' ither versions, tho' it jostles it aroond a wee bit.
An beannachd ort,
--Cuilionn |
25 May 98 - 03:29 PM (#29255) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Joe Offer With typing like that, Cuilionn, one might think you were Shula. I never figured out how she could type dialect without going bonkers. -Joe Offer- |
25 May 98 - 06:29 PM (#29269) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca Where is Shula these days, anyway? 1. The Steeleye Span version was called "When I Was On Horseback." I assume it is an Irish version because it mentions Cork City, but I never did figure out the significance of the soldier being killed on the 14th of May. 2. Another version is from woman's point of view, and is called The Unfortunate Lass. There are versions of this from eastern Canada. 3. It would be an interesting, if somewhat depressing CD, to collect different variants of this song. |
25 May 98 - 07:12 PM (#29278) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Joe Offer Hi, Tim - Shula's been sick, but she dropped in last week to say that she's doing pretty well. The various versions of this song are linked in the database, and you can find them all by searching for #350. The notes for When I Was On Horseback say that an album of these songs is available on the Folkways label. -Joe Offer- |
27 May 98 - 10:52 AM (#29432) Subject: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF SHERMAN WU (Pete Seeger) From: Art Thieme Pete Seeger sang this on one of his BROADSIDE LPs for Folkways. BALLAD OF SHERMAN WU
As I roved out on the streets of Northwestern,
"I see by your frat pin that you are a Psi U,
The dean said, "Now Sherman, don't raise a commotion,
Art Thieme
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27 May 98 - 03:58 PM (#29462) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Debbie I believe Marty Robins also recorded a version of this one, but it's slightly different, i don't recognise some of the verses, and he sings some other verses.... Debs |
06 Aug 01 - 03:36 AM (#521715) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: pavane I don't see The Royal Albion mentioned - another member of the group of songs, but unfortunately I don't have the words to hand. Very similar though, as I remember it. |
06 Aug 01 - 11:26 AM (#521875) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Kim C Oh, heavens.... everytime I sing Streets of Laredo I think about that damn Outfit thing..... :-D |
06 Aug 01 - 12:46 PM (#521920) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Greg F. and then there'sTHIS |
06 Aug 01 - 01:14 PM (#521937) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: The Walrus at work Bruce,
I'd tend to agree with the other versions quoted that Regards Walrus
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06 Aug 01 - 02:22 PM (#521969) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: GUEST,DaisyA There is a lovely version of St James' Hospital on Kate and Anna McGarrigle's Heartbeats Accelerating. It's the last track - really wonderful. Daisy |
06 Aug 01 - 02:47 PM (#521995) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: LR Mole Misinformation? Someone once told me VD is called "clap" because the mercury treatment is so painful that people receiving it would be slapped to distract them. Interesting thing to put on one's resume. |
06 Aug 01 - 02:52 PM (#521996) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: CRANKY YANKEE "A Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" predates (I think) the streets of Laredo. Pretty Much the same melody. It starts....... As I was walking down by the Royal Albion. If anyone is interested in this, send me a PM and I'll dig it out for you. |
06 Aug 01 - 04:20 PM (#522075) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: pavane White Copper (old name for mercury) is mentioned in the song Lass of London City, which is another song in a similar vein. 'As I was a walking down White Copper Alley'. |
06 Aug 01 - 05:43 PM (#522154) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Chicken Charlie If one may be allowed to return to the original question .... Two possibilities occur. One is that it's a fossil leftover from the Irish version, in the context of which it might have made better sense. Second is that cowboys and Western travellers in general sometimes wore an outer garment called a "duster" which was a very thin overcoat designed to protect one's clothes from trail dust, whence the name. I believe dusters were often light colored if not truly white, and generally made of linen so as to be more easily washable. CC |
06 Aug 01 - 05:50 PM (#522166) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Liz the Squeak I always thought he was a ghost, trying to warn the cowboy, like ghosts usually do.... why can't ghosts just let us get on with it? LTS |
06 Aug 01 - 05:54 PM (#522169) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: katlaughing As in a winding sheet? That's what I always thought it was. |
06 Aug 01 - 06:49 PM (#522210) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: DougR I think of it as a shroud, as many others of you do, and the narrator as a ghost. In Burl Ives song book he merely notes that it is a "variant on an Irish song, "The Unfortunate Rake." DougR |
06 Aug 01 - 11:40 PM (#522356) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: CRANKY YANKEE Is it REALLY that important? |
06 Aug 01 - 11:43 PM (#522358) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: artbrooks For what its worth...which probably isn't much...there's also a version I learned in Seattle about a seasick Norwegen fisherman called "Streets of Stavanger". Uff da. |
07 Aug 01 - 11:41 PM (#523192) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: GUEST,Fred For what it's worth, the tune is from the Irish song The Bard of Armagh. I also always assumed that the cowboy was wrapped up for burying, but I never thought of him as a ghost. I guess I never stopped to wonder why he would already be wrapped for burying before he was actually dead. Love the parodies. |
07 Aug 01 - 11:53 PM (#523201) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Sorcha I always thought of it as a "left over" from the original St. James Infirmary song----the guy has syphillis so they give him salts of mercury to raise his body temperature to kill the spirochetes; then they wrap him in linen to increase the rise in body temperature.
After that, they put him on the roof of St. James to lie in the sunshine........and WHOOPS!! too much heat, so he cooks to death.
None of that really makes sense with the US cowboy version of Streets of Laredo but ballads often don't make sense when they are transferred from another culture.
The US cowboy version seems to be using the "white linen" as a shroud even though the boy isn't quite dead yet, but he is wrapped for burial and has Final Requests.......the 6 cowboys, maidens, etc. He KNOWS he is going to die and that he is wrapped for burial. just my $0.02 worth |
20 Jan 02 - 09:41 PM (#631927) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Haruo Just posted La Stratoj Laredaj (Esperanto translation by Marta Evans, slightly revised by me) in La Lilandejo; would be interested in other non-English versions of "The Streets of Laredo". Liland PS The white linen is there (though only once, not repeated as in English), but the difference I find most striking is the seven (not six) pallbearers, maidens and roses ("luckiest number at dice for a bet"). |
20 Jan 02 - 10:48 PM (#631964) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Nerd Someone mentions that it would be neat for a CD to be compiled of the versions of this song. This was done on LP by folklorist Kenny Goldstein in the 1960s. It was a folkways LP with scholarly notes and about twenty variants (including, I think, Sherman Wu) of the song. Like all folkways LPs, this can be ordered as a custom-Burned CD from Smithsonian Folkways. The title is The Unfortunate Rake. The notes give a complete run-down on the song's history (1st recorded text, etc) and the singers are an interesting mix of professional folksingers (the late Wade Hemsworth is on it, as is Rosalie Sorrels) and folklorists (including Goldstein, Roger Abrahams, Jan Brunvand, Alan Lomax). Not the best listening ever, but an interesting album |
20 Jan 02 - 11:05 PM (#631973) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Amos Jeeze-- they used linen for bandages too -- the guy was shot in the breast, obviously seriously, and he'd be cold as the clay from loss of blood without a shroud coming into it. It's just BANDAGES folks!! Let's stay as real as possible under the circumstances. They don't let the winding sheet committee in until someone says, "He's dead, Jim...." A |
20 Jan 02 - 11:15 PM (#631980) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: CapriUni I guess what confuses people, Amos, is the phrase "All wrapped..." which suggests that it was head to foot. But that word could simply be in the line for scansion reasons And then, there is another version in the DT, here. The first two verses make it clear that he is still alive, and was left in the street deliberately, and the people who did the wrapping (either bandages or shrowd) were on the run. |
20 Jan 02 - 11:21 PM (#631982) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: DougR Anybody else checked out the thread of old music Rick posted in another thread of singers from the twenties and thirties singing this song. I heard three different versions of the tune of this song there. I wasn't familiar with any of them. DougR |
20 Jan 02 - 11:21 PM (#631983) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Rolfyboy6 Does anybody know how St. James Hospital got transformed into St. James Infirmary (Blues)? The feel of the words is late ragtime/early jazz/early blues. St. James Infirmary The D.T. lyrics are a little stilted in comparison to how it's usually sung.
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20 Jan 02 - 11:52 PM (#631994) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Put The Cowboy's Lament in the DT and up comes Harry Jackson's version of the Streets of Laredo, where no less than 16 cowboys are called for to carry the coffin and 16 pretty ladies to bear up the pall. The cowboy was from southeast Texas; a Texas-sized funeral is expected. Type in Lament, and up comes "Streets of Laredo (Cowboy's Lament)" where only six of each are required. The boy's people came from the Nation (Indian Territory) so he was probably Injun and wouldn't expect many to come to his funeral. Folks, the two cowboys were not the same. This explains the confusion. Liland, where did the seventh man position himself to carry the pall? |
21 Jan 02 - 01:38 AM (#632035) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Oh, yes, the roses in Jackson's version were to deaden the smell. A much more realistic reason that to "deaden the clods as they fall." |
21 Jan 02 - 01:45 AM (#632038) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Haruo Dicho, I have no idea where the seventh pallbearer would be placed. Of course, I also have no idea what text Marta Evans was working from; maybe there are English versions out there where the magic number is seven, and I just haven't run into any of them. Anybody? FWIW, here's... A line-by-line non-singable anglicization of La Stratoj LaredajThe Streets of Laredo Esperanto version by Marta Evans in Kantfesto I, 1982 |
21 Jan 02 - 04:58 AM (#632066) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Dave Bryant There are so many versions of this song, I've always referred to it as "Young Soldier/Sailor cut down in his Prime". Obviously the "Cowboy" version came later. And perhaps the end of the line is "St James Infirmary Blues". On the other hand, in the future we might have, "Young spaceman cut down in his Suspended Animation". |
21 Jan 02 - 10:10 AM (#632170) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: GUEST,breezy Set adrift in the vacuous void,? but it may not scan so . |
21 Jan 02 - 11:42 AM (#632223) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Liland, I think your version came from a bad east Indian movie. The earliest claim for authorship of "The Cowboy's Lament" is 1876, by Francis Henry Maynard. At that time he was working with "the Grimes outfit" wintering cattle on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River On the Kansas-Indian Territory border. He said that he was inspired by "The Dying Girl's Lament," at the time sung by cowboys. He moved the scene from a hospital to Tom Sherman's barroom, a popular watering hole in Dodge City (The Whorehouse Bells are Ringing, Guy Logsden, 1989, p. 291, University of Illinois Press). The locale ws moved to Laredo later. Certainly the Bard of Armagh was known in the United States, and the tune came from this. The traditional version was well-known by 1898 when Owen Wister included a verse in his great western novel, "Lin McLean." The many other lyrics, such as those mentioned by Bryant, are little known now and their occurrence or distribution in the United States is not well-documented. In 1908, Sharlot Hall collected a version in Arizona: "As I rode out to Latern in Barin As I rode out so early one day, 'Twas there I espied a handsome young cowboy All dressed in white linen and clothed for the grave." The Irish origin is obvious here. The other verses were all similar to the Maynard-traditional verses (from the same source mentioned above). |
07 Oct 02 - 02:19 AM (#798117) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Joe Offer Somebody sent me a list of songs and threads that are related to "St James Infirmary" and "Streets of Laredo" The list is far too long to use with our grouping system, but I thought I'd post it here. -Joe Offer- It is arguable whether the following should all be cross-referenced as one big group, or broken up into 2 or 3 groups. I'll leave it up to you to decide. Two groups already exist: (1) Streets of Laredo/Pills of White Mercury; and (2) St. James Infirmary (see footnotes) Songid= 0089 A SUN VALLEY SONG 0928 BRIGHT SUMMER MORNING 2859 I ONCE WAS A CARMAN IN THE BIG MOUNTAIN CON 3672 LOCKE HOSPITAL 4271 NOO I'M A YOUNG MAN CUT DOWN IN MY PRIME 4501 ONE MORNING IN MAY 4684 PILLS OF WHITE MERCURY 5525 ST. JAMES' HOSPITAL 5526** ST. JAMES INFIRMARY 5573* STREETS OF LAREDO (COWBOY'S LAMENT) 5691 TARPAULIN JACKET 5782 BAD GIRL'S LAMENT 5792 BALLAD OF BLOODY THURSDAY 6210 DYING LUMBERMAN 6367 GIRL IN THE DILGER CASE 6426 HALLS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL 6607 LINEMAN'S HYMN 6851 PROGRAMMER'S LAMENT 7013 STREETS OF LOREDO 7071 TROOPER CUT DOWN IN HIS PRIME 7101 UNFORTUNATE RAKE 7156 WILD LUMBERJACK 7208 YOUNG SAILOR CUT DOWN IN HIS PRIME 7498 UNFORTUNATE LASS 7768 WHEN I WAS ON HORSEBACK Threadid= 00241 Lyr Req: The Pills of White Mercury 00890 Pills of White Mercury 03172** Tune request: St. James Infirmary 03918* ...all wrapped in white linen. 06346 unfortunate rake 13778** Tab request 'St. James Infirmary' 14919* Streets of Laredo 14941* Lyr Add: Pills of White Mercury 16016 Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket???? 20068 Tune Req: St. James Infirmary 20256** Tune Req: St. James Infirmary Blues 20413 Lyr Add: Tom Sherman's Barroom 22885 Penguin: The Young Girl Cut Down In Her Prime 24143** Lyr Req: st james infirmary (request only) 26976** Lyr/Chords Req: St. James Infirmary 30298** Chords Req: St. James Infirmary 36109 BS: St. Jude's Infirmary (Parody for Spaw) 42215 Lyr/Chords Req: Pills of White Mercury, Old B 46310** History of Saint James Infirmary Blues? 46314 Lyr Req: 16 Coal Black Horses, a funeral dirge 48964** St. James infirmary *Already cross-referenced: Streets of Laredo group **Already cross-referenced: St. James Infirmary group Here are the groups: |
07 Oct 02 - 05:22 AM (#798155) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Gurney Dreadful song. I used to love it, once. Cyril Tawney 'localised' it by remaming the hospital (maybe Royal Albion, I can't really remember)as I heard him announce about 30 years ago. 30 years. Good grief. |
08 Oct 02 - 12:45 AM (#798676) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: CapriUni Gurney... what changed your mind about the song? Was it learning what the song really meant? Hearing it one (or one hundred) times too many? A change in your musical aesthetic sense? Just curious... |
06 Mar 03 - 04:16 PM (#905059) Subject: Lyr Add: THE COW BOYS LAMENT (Thorp 1908) From: GUEST,Q Lyr. Add: THE COW BOYS LAMENT (Thorp 1908) 'Twas once in my saddle I used to be happy 'Twas once in my saddle I used to be gay But I first took to drinking, then to gambling A shot from a six-shooter took my life away. My curse let it rest, rest on the fair one Who drove me from friends that I loved and from home Who told me she loved me, just to deceive me My curse rest upon her, wherever she roam. Oh she was fair, Oh she was lovely The belle of the Village the fairest of all But her heart was as cold as the snow on the mountains She gave me up for the glitter of gold. I arrived in Galveston in old Texas Drinking and gambling I went to give o'er But, I met with a Greaser and my life he has finished Home and relations I ne'er shall see more. Send for my father, Oh send for my mother Send for the surgeon to look at my wounds But I fear it is useless I feel I am dying I'm a young cowboy cut down in my bloom. Farewell my friends, farewell my relations My earthly career has cost me sore The cow-boy ceased talking, they knew he was dying His trials on earth, forever were o'er. Chor. Beat your drums lightly, play your fifes merrily Sing your dearth (Sic) march as you bear me along Take me to the grave yard, lay the sod o'er me I'm a young cow-boy and know I've done wrong. Copied without changes from a facimile copy of "Songs of the Cowboys," N. Howard Thorp, News Print Shop, Estancia, New Mexico. Copyright, 1908, N. Howard Thorp. The facsimile bears the manuscript inscription "1st Book of Cowboy Songs published in the U. S. Songs marked + are by the author N. Howard Jack Thorp Alameda, N. M." The Preface says "To the Ranchmen of the West this little volume is dedicated as a reminder of the trail days and roundups of the past. To the younger generation who know not of the trip from Texas to Dodge and the north, it will tend to keep alive the memory of an industry now past. I have gathered these songs from the cow camps of different states and territories [NM and AZ gained statehood four years later, in 1912]. They embrace most of the songs as sung by the oldtime cow punchers." There is no mention of authorship or provenance. "I plead ignorance of the authorship of ["most" added in MS] them but presume that most of the composers have, ere now, "Gone up the dim narrow trail." Thorp, however, in MS, claimed authorship of five, including "Little Joe the Wrangler." This is not the song in the DT pointed to by rich r. There is no note crediting authorship of "The Cow Boys Lament" to Troy Hale. The facsilile is printed, unpaginated, after p. 257 of Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, "Songs of the Cowboys by N. Howard ("Jack") Thorp," Variants, Commentary Notes and Lexicon by Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, Clarkson N Potter, publisher, 1966. Thorp had nothing to do with the 257 pages of comments, songs and music by the Fifes. In 1921, "Thorp abandoned the 1908 text for Lomax's longer and smoother synthetic text, which has had much more influence upon the twentieth century singing of the song than it deserves." The Fifes go on to condemn Lomax's "bowdlerization." The 1921 edition is the one in which Troy Hale is mentioned. No one has taken this seriously. Click to play |
06 Mar 03 - 04:20 PM (#905062) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: GUEST,Q Ok, facsimile. |
02 Apr 03 - 05:03 AM (#924313) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: GUEST,IanN Does anyone know for definate the origin of the tune for Streets of Laredo? GUESTFred suggest the Bard of Armagh however a book I've seen cites the origins of the tune as being England??? |
02 Apr 03 - 06:30 PM (#924832) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: GUEST,Q Suggest you see thread 52843, especialy a post by Malcolm Douglas, 30 Oct 02, which discusses "The Unfortunate Rake," and also read the other posts in this thread. Seemingly the tune can be traced back to about 1800, English. Buck's Elegy Bard of Armagh and Streets of Laredo belong in this group of songs with the same or very similar melody. |
03 Mar 05 - 05:50 PM (#1426315) Subject: RE: ...all wrapped in white linen. From: Q (Frank Staplin) Worth noting in these threads is the Folkways Album, No. FA 3805, issued in 1960, called "The Unfortunate Rake, A Study in the Evolution of a Ballad," notes by K. S. Goldstein. I checked several related threads, but didn't note mention of this album. Tracks: The Unfortunate Rake. Sung by A. L. Lloyd The Trooper Cut Down in His Prime. E. W. MacColl The Young Sailor Cut Down in His Prime. Harry Cox Noo I'm a Young Man Cut Down in My Prime. Willie Mathieson The Bad Girl's Lament. Wade Hemsworth One Morning in May. Hally Wood Bright Summer Morning. Mrs. Viola Penn The Girl in the Dilger Case. D. K. Wilgus The Cowboy's Lament. Bruce Buckley The Streets of Laredo. Harry Jackson St. James Hospital. Alan Lomax Gambler's Blues. Dave Van Ronk I Once Was a Carman in the Big Mountain Con. Guthrie Meade The Lineman's Hymn. Rosalie Sorrels The Wild Lumberjack. Kenneth S. Goldstein Sun Valley Song. Jan Brunvand The Ballad of Bloody Thursday. John Greenway The Streets of Hamtramck. Bill Friedland The Ballad of Sherman Wu. Sung by Pete Seeger The Professor's Lament. Roger Abrahams |