Streets of Laredo (song)

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This article is about the folk song. For the novel by Larry McMurtry, see Streets of Laredo.

"Streets of Laredo" (Roud 2), also known as the "Cowboy's Lament", is a famous cowboy ballad in which a dying cowboy dispenses his advice to a living one. As with most folk songs the lyrics vary; here are the lyrics as recorded by Johnny Cash for his American IV album:

As I walked out on the streets of Laredo,
As I walked out on Laredo one day,
I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen,
Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay.
"I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy,"
These words he did say as I boldly walked by.
"Come an' sit down beside me an' hear my sad story,
I'm shot in the breast an' I know I must die.
"It was once in the saddle, I used to go dashing,
Once in the saddle, I used to go gay,
First to the card-house and then down to Rose's,
But I'm shot in the breast and I'm dyin' today.
"Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin,
Six dance-hall maidens to bear up my pall.
Throw bunches of roses all over my coffin,
Roses to deaden the clods as they fall.
"Then beat the drum slowly, play the fife lowly,
Play the death march as you carry me along.
Take me to the green valley, lay the sod o'er me,
I am a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong.
"Then go write a letter to my grey-haired mother,
And tell her the cowboy that she loved has gone.
But please not one word of the man who had killed me,
Don't mention his name and his name will pass on."
When thus he had spoken, the hot sun was setting,
The streets of Laredo grew cold as the clay.
We took the young cowboy down to the green valley,
And there stands his marker, we made, to this day.
We beat the drum slowly, played the Fife lowly,
Played the dead march as we carried him along,
Down in the green valley, laid the sod o'er him,
He was a young cowboy and he said he'd done wrong.

Recordings of the song have been made by Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Roy Rogers, Marty Robbins, Chet Atkins, Arlo Guthrie, and many country and western singers.

The song plays a prominent role in the book and film Bang the Drum Slowly, in which the song is sung. The words from the title replace the words "beat the drum slowly" from the lyrics above. This in turn is the phrase used in the song "Bang the Drum Slowly" on the album Red Dirt Girl by Emmylou Harris.

[edit] Origin

The song is universally credited to Traditional, and the origins are not entirely clear; but it seems to be primarily descended from an Irish/British folk song of the late 18th century called "The Unfortunate Rake", which has also evolved (with a time signature change) into the New Orleans standard "St. James Infirmary Blues".

The Smothers Brothers performed this comedy version:

As I walked out on the streets of Laredo.
As I walked out on Laredo one day,
I spied a young cowboy all dressed in white linen,
Dressed in white linen as cold as the clay.
"I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy."
"I see by your outfit you are a cowboy too."
"We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys.
If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy too."

Note that Marty Robbins' "El Paso" (1960), as inspired by traditional versions of Laredo, is a multiple-versed tragic ballad about a lonesome cowboy, a lovely dancehall maiden, sudden violence and mourning. And as for The Cowboy's Lament/Streets of Laredo itself, Austin E. and Alta S. Fife in Songs of the Cowboys (1966) say,

"There are hundreds of texts, with variants so numerous that scholars will ever assemble and analyze them all"

--and note that versions that found their way into print, such Lomax's 1910 version, have been Bowdlerized from, for example, subtle mention of drunkenessand one of the Fifes' sources "exaggerating somewhat, says that there were originally seventy stanzas, sixty-nine of which had to be whistled." [1]

An intermediately bowdlerized version of The Cowboy's Lament:
_______
'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.
Beat your drums lightly, play your fifes merrily
Sing your dearth 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.
-
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.
Beat your drums lightly, play your fifes merrily
Sing your dearth 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.
-
Oh she was fair, Oh she was lovely
The belle of the Viliage 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.
Beat your drums lightly, play your fifes merrily
Sing your dearth 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.
-
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.
Beat your drums lightly, play your fifes merrily
Sing your dearth 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.
-
Send for my Father. O 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 cow-boy cut down in my bloom.
Beat your drums lightly, play your fifes merrily
Sing your dearth 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.
-
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.
Beat your drums lightly, play your fifes merrily
Sing your dearth 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.
-
--From Songs of the Cowboys an 1908 version of "Cowboy's Lament," typographical errors unchanged

[edit] External links

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