American Ballads and Folk Songs

John A. Lomax, Alan Lomax

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780486319926
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

`A book to cherish permanently.` — The New York Times.
With this ample collection of authentic ballads and songs, you can immerse yourself in the rich tradition and heritage of American folk music. Discover the diversity, spontaneity, free-flowing melody, and sheer invention of scores of songs sung by cowboys and convicts, lumberjacks, hobos, miners, plantation slaves, mountaineers, soldiers, and many others.
One of the remarkable features of this collection is its authenticity. Many of the songs were recorded `on location` by noted folklorist John A. Lomax and his even more famous son, Alan, as they traveled around the United States. The results are firsthand versions of music and lyrics for over 200 railroad songs, chain-gang songs, mountain songs, Creole songs, cocaine and whisky songs, `reels,` minstrel songs, songs of childhood, and a host of others. Among them are such time-honored favorites as `John Henry,` `Goin' Home,` `Frankie and Albert,` `Down in the Valley,` `Little Brown Jug,` `Alabama-Bound,` `Shortenin' Bread,` `Skip to My Lou,` `Frog Went a-Courtin',` and a host of others. An excellent introduction, notes on each song, a bibliography, and an index round out this extensive and valuable collection.
Musician, musicologists, folklorists, singers — anyone interested in American folk music — will welcome this treasury of timeless song gathered in one handy, inexpensive volume.

XVI

COWBOY SONGS

“The higher you git’s too low for me.”—Cowboy to a bucking bronco.

FROM THE CHUCK WAGON

Oh, the cow-puncher loves the whistle of his rope,

As he races over the plains;

And the stage-driver loves the popper of his whip,

And the rattle of his Concord chains;

And I pray the Lord we’ll all be saved

And we’ll keep the golden rule;

But I’d rather be at home with the girl I love

Than to monkey with this goddam mule.

COWBOYS’ GETTIN’-UP HOLLER

A common call in Far-West camp life.

Wake up, Jacob, day’s a-breakin’,

Fryin’ pan’s on an’ hoe-cake bakin’.

Bacon in the pan, coffee in the pot;

Git up now and git it while it’s hot.

THE OLD CHIZZUM TRAIL ^*

Come along, boys, and listen to my tale,

I’ll tell you of my experience on the Old Chizzum Trail.

Chorus:

Coma-ti yi yippy, yippy yea, yippy yea,

Coma-ti yi yippy, yippy yea.

I was born in Texas in the year ’89,

I can ride anything this side the state line.

Went down to San Antone and went to workin’ cattle,

And here come the sheep men and we had a battle.

There ain’t no better territory in the United States,

But she shore is hotter than hell’s own gates.

It’s I an’ Bill Jones was good old cronies,

We was always together on our sore-backed ponies.

We left Nelson Ranch on June twenty-third,

With a drove of Texas cattle, two thousand in the herd.

We whooped them through Gonzales, night was drawin’ nigh,

We bedded them down on a hill close by.

Foot in the stirrup, my seat in the saddle,

Best little cowboy that ever rode a-straddle.

Slicker in the wagon and pouring down hail,

Goin’ round the herd with a dogie by the tail.

It’s rainin’ like hell and it’s gittin’ mighty cold,

And the long-horned sons-a-guns are gittin’ mighty hard to hold.

Saddle up, boys, and saddle up well,

For I think these cattle have scattered to hell.

Me and old Blue Dog arrived on the spot,

And we put them to milling like the boiling of a pot.

I’m on my best horse and I am goin’ on a run,

I’m the quickest-shootin’ cowboy that ever pulled a gun.

I flushed them left, couldn’t get ’em to stop,

I can run as long as an eight-day clock.

My seat in my saddle, and I gave a little shout,

The lead cattle broke an’ the herd went about.

My quirt in my hand, my slicker on my saddle,

I hung and rattled with them goddam cattle.

Some of ’em we captured without half tryin’,

They was so damned scared they didn’t need hog-tyin’.

We strung ’em out next mornin’, and the boss made a count

And he said, “Boys, we are just a few out.

“Make a circle, boys, and don’t lose no time,

I am sure they will be easy to find.”

It was over the hillside and over the draws,

And we soon brought in the old Two Bars.^*

I hit my little pony and he give a little rack,

And damned big luck if we ever get back.

I’m headed south just whoopin’ and a-yellin’,

If I don’t find a steer, I’ll take a heifer yearling.

Jumped in the saddle and hit him with my quirt,

The hind cinch busted and the saddle hit the dirt.

With my blankets and my gun and a rawhide rope,

I’m a-slidin’ down the trail in a long keen lope.

I’ll chew my tobacco and I’ll squirt my juice,

I’m goin’ down to town to see the old Blue Goose.

I went to the bar and struck on a bell,

Here comes a bunch of niggers running like hell.

Pulled out my gun, brought it on the level,

And them damn niggers run like the devil.

And they got me by the foreleg and put me in jail,

And I couldn’t find a damn soul to go my bail.

Boss come around with a whip in his hand

And he swore, by God, I wasn’t worth a damn.

I sold my horse and I sold my saddle,

You can go to hell with your longhorn cattle.

I’m goin’ back home, I’m not jokin’ or lyin’,

I’m goin’ back home, just a-yellin’ and a-flyin’.

I hunted up the boss to draw my roll,

He stepped in the bank and he paid me in gold.

I’m goin’ downtown to get a little dope

’Cause my back’s all broke from the draggin’ of the rope.

Jumped on the train and gave such a yell,

The goose-back broke and the train went to hell.

When I thought of my gal I nearly would cry,

I’ll quit herding cows in the sweet by and by.

I hadn’t been at home but some days two or three

When I put off my gal for to see.

“If you’ve made up your mind to quit the cowboy life,

I have fully decided to be your little wife.”

Farewell, old Blue Dog, I wish you no harm,

I’ve done quit the business to go on the farm.

No more a cow-puncher to sleep at m...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Foreword
• Acknowledgement
• Contents
• Introduction
• I. Working on the Railroad
• II. The Levee CAMP
• III. Songs from Southern Chain Gangs
• IV. Negro Bad Men
• V. White Desperadoes
• VI. Songs from the Mountains
• VII. Cocaine and Whisky
• VIII. The Blues
• IX. Creole Negroes
• X. “Reels”
• XI. Minstrel Types
• XII. Reakdowns and Play Parties
• XIII. Songs of Childhood
• XIV. Miscellany
• XV. Vaqueros of the Southwest
• XVI. Cowboy Songs
• XVII. Songs of the Overlanders
• XVIII. The Miner
• XIX. The Shanty-Boy
• XX. The Erie Canal
• XXI. The Great Lakes
• XXII. Sailors and Sea Fights
• XXIII. Wars and Soldiers
• XXIV. White Spirituals
• XXV. Negro Spirituals
• Bibliography
• Index