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Brazos River Songs

20 Mar 02 - 05:51 PM (#672895)
Subject: Brazos River Songs
From: GUEST,Specperson

I am looking for songs (any genre) about the Brazos River for a compilation CD I am working on. I already have records of the more well know stuff (Ain't No Cane on the Brazos, The Brazos River Song, Cross the Brazos at Waco). The song can have Brazos in the title or just mentioned in the lyrics. I don't even need an existing recording, just any hint of a title or artist or source. Thanks!!!


20 Mar 02 - 06:00 PM (#672899)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: dick greenhaus

If you type Brazos into the blue DigiTrad Lyrics Search Box, you'll find seven of them.


20 Mar 02 - 06:00 PM (#672900)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Sorcha

There are 6 in the DT, click here.


20 Mar 02 - 06:04 PM (#672904)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Sorcha

OK, clickie didn't work........try this one. Also, a couple different versions in this thread.


20 Mar 02 - 06:05 PM (#672905)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Sorcha

I give up.


20 Mar 02 - 06:08 PM (#672906)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

To get "No Mo' Cane...," type in Brazis or cane. Lomax and Lomax 1939 have some that I will check on and give you the site.


20 Mar 02 - 06:14 PM (#672911)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Pene Azul

http://supersearch.mudcat.org/@NewSSResults.cfm?query=brazos


20 Mar 02 - 08:01 PM (#672988)
Subject: Lyr Add: GODAMIGHTY DRAG
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

"Godamighty Drag' in Lomax and Lomax 1941 (1968), Our Singing Country, p. 398-399, with music.

Lyr. Add: GODAMIGHTY DRAG

Mamma and Papa,
Wo-ho, Lawdy,
Mamma and Papa,
Godamighty God knows,
Done tol' me a lie, suh,
Wo, Lawdy,
Done tol' me a lie, suh,
Wo-ho, my Lawd.

Done told me they'd pardon me,*
Well, next July, suh.

* (Each couplet to be expanded as
in the first stanza).

July, July, and August,
Done come and gone, suh.

Left me here rollin',
On this ol' farm, suh.

When Hannah ** go to beamin',
Make you think about your momma.
** (Hannah- the Sun)
When the boys go to steamin',
Make a nigger run away, suh.

Oh, me and my pardner,
We went to the Brazis,

And he could not swim, suh,
And he could not swim.

I crossed him over,
On a live-oak limb.

Ride, old dog-man,
You better ride, old dog-man.

When the Brazis was risin',
Riley walked the water.

From a group of Negros, Huntsville Penitentiary, Texas, 1934.

Could find none that are not in the DT in Lomax and Lomax 1939.


20 Mar 02 - 08:56 PM (#673022)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: raredance

"Texas Trilogy: Bosque County Romance" by Steven Fromholz mentions the Brazos. The song can be found on the recording "Step Inside This House" by Lyle Lovett. Lovett also does a rendition of "Rivers of Texas" on the same CD.

rich r


20 Mar 02 - 09:11 PM (#673026)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Áine

And that's pronounced 'BAHS-kee' County, by the way... ;-)

And it would be even better hearing Steve singing it, don't ya know! Geez, rich r, you took me back to the good old days at the Rubiyat Club in Dallas . . . no venue in the North Texas region has ever replaced it, that's for sure!

-- Áine


20 Mar 02 - 10:31 PM (#673077)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

Texans of Anglo background never pronounce Spanish correctly. I especially remember one cop down there- I was looking for San Juan Street and he came up blank until I showed him the name- "Oh, yeah, you mean San Joe-ann." And I couldn't get used to "Messycan." I was from New Mexico where the language receives more respect.


20 Mar 02 - 10:46 PM (#673086)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Áine

'Texans of Anglo background never pronounce Spanish correctly.'

Come on, Dicho. That's a dumb generalization. Besides, with so many Mexican dialects, I doubt you could get much agreement from a Mexican national on the pronunciation of many words in Spanish -- in Mexico OR Texas.

And as for the 'no respect' comment -- The Texas school system has been teaching 'real' Mexican Spanish for the last 20 years, instead of the Castillian Spanish that was taught before then. Why? Because so many of our educators are of Mexican descent.

All the best, Áine


20 Mar 02 - 11:33 PM (#673110)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

I went to school at the University of Texas and lived in San Antonio for a spell. I remember the resentment on the part of Mexican students at the University, including those with whom I shared an apartment, of some of the subtle discriminatory practices. I admit, with the Spanish-speaking population asserting their voting rights in the last 20 or so years, there has been a great improvement. I also have to agree, to be fair, that discrimination is present in Mexico and Latin America as well, to an extent that is little known north of the border.


20 Mar 02 - 11:49 PM (#673122)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: mack/misophist

Apropos nothing, I was told this as a boy, living by the Brazos. Some time in the 16 hundreds, a lone Spanish officer was wandering central Texas, trying to find the way home. When he found a river, he knew he could follow it to the gulf and down to Vera Cruz. He called the river EL RIO DE LOS BRAZOS DE DIOS, the river of the arms of god.


20 Mar 02 - 11:50 PM (#673125)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: GUEST

Also note the Lyle Lovett song "Walk throug the Bottomland" which mentions the Brazos in the chorus.


21 Mar 02 - 09:06 PM (#673735)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Rolfyboy6

Lightnin' Hopkins did "Penetentiary Blues" several times, most notably on the Folkways album "Lightnin' Hopkins." This song is full of the Brazos prison camps. Has lots of descent from "Ain't No Mo' Cane On The Brazis".


21 Mar 02 - 11:11 PM (#673788)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: raredance

Aine,

My affection for Bosque County Romance derives from the fact that it is the only song I know that specifically mentions the screwworm, an insect that I did a fair amount of research on in the late 80's

rich r

fiar to 'fair' fixed by mudelf :-)


21 Mar 02 - 11:13 PM (#673790)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: raredance

I know that down south "fair" may be pronounced with two syllables, but that doesn't justify spelling it that way.

rich r


21 Mar 02 - 11:45 PM (#673807)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

Rich, it is two syllables. Fay-uh. My wife remembers the screwworm. During the Drought-Depression some cattle were moved from Texas into the south, specifically Georgia. The screwworms latched onto her father's cattle. Previously the screwworm had been rare in Georgia, or so they say.
Mesophist, you could be right. I know that a small group of Spanish soldiers made it back via that part of Texas and to the Gulf. Can't remember the name of the leader at the moment. A long time since I learned that in school.


23 Jan 11 - 02:16 PM (#3080821)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: GUEST,Guest

Hi,

I've recorded a version of Godamighty Drag on youtube.

Godamighty Drag

Thanks


23 Jan 11 - 03:00 PM (#3080861)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle

Lomax collected Dink's song from Dink alady washerwoman living a rough life on the banks of the Brazos in a tent.

There is a strong historical connection between the song and the river.


23 Jan 11 - 04:59 PM (#3080951)
Subject: RE: Brazos River Songs
From: Amos

RIVERS OF TEXAS
ACROSS THE BRAZOS FROM WACO
DOWN BY TOMS RIVER
WINDY BILL
0THE GOL-DARNED WHEEL
GO DOWN, OLD HANNAH
GALVESTON FLOOD
EL PRESO NUMERO 9

all mention the Brazos.