Traditional Songs

Every now and then - I realise I have not listened to "The Streets of Laredo"for quite some time. Now I am not a great enthusiast of the raunchy Country and Western type song, but some western songs, particularly ballads I find very favourable. So off I shoot (pun) to find a copy of Marty Robbins singing the said song.

Last week I was listening to some mournful ballady Irish Folk songs when I recalled that I had not listend to Marty Robbins for a while, I could not find his cassettes, I am not set up at the moment to play vinyl, AND I discovered that I have not got any Digital versions of Marty Robbins.

Off to Amazon and other likely sites to purchase some Marty I discovered that the vast majority of the available offerings tend to be compilations that feature his hits over and over again with lots of overlap and few variations. To get a comprehensive selection (with as few purchases as possible) took a lot of research. During the research I saw some sleeve notes that suggested the 'Streets of Laredo' was a traditional song of unknown origin but based on an Irish song called the 'Bard of Armagh'.

I had started out trying to add to my Irish collection, particularly 'The Fureys', when I had become sidetracked by my Marty adventures, so I revised my Irish selection to include a 'Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem' cd that included 'The Bard of Armagh, and a Marty anthology of 3 CDs that included some that I especially wanted.

Well the Clancys arrived pronto, but Marty has still not been dispatched - I am waiting.

Meanwhile here is Marty Robbins on You Tube singing 'The Streets Of Laredo'

As I walked out in the streets of Laredo
As I walked out in Laredo one day
I spied a young cowboy wrapped all in white linen
Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay

Oh beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly
Sing the dead march as you carry me along
Take me to the valley then lay the sod o'er me
I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong

I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy
These words he did say as I boldly walked by
Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story
Got shot in the breast and I know I must die

Go fetch me some water a cool cup of water
To cool my hot lips then the poor cowboy said
Before I return his spirit had left him
Had gone to his Maker the cowboy was dead

Oh beat the drum slowly...

 

In the meantime the story gets more involved.

Various sources suggest that BOTH the 'Bard of Armagh' AND therefore 'Streets of Laredo' were based upon a much earlier English traditional song called 'The Unfortunate Lad'. The Unfortunate Lad was fairly quickly renamed 'The Unfortunate Rake' and hundreds of different versions of the words spread round England, Britain and America.

One version eventually became 'Streets of Laredo' another version became the Jazz Classic ''St James Infirmary' but the tune was revamped in the way that Jazz does so often - into somethingwhich I cannot recognise.

The bad news is that on My Clancy Brothers Album the volume is very low, as it is on a 'You Tube ' offering.    

The Bard of Armagh

 

 

Oh, list to the lay of a poor Irish harper
And scorn not the strains of his old withered hand
But remember his fingers they once could move sharper
To raise up the memory of his dear native land

 

At a fair or a wake I could twist my shillelagh
Or trip through a jig with my brogues bound with straw
And all the pretty colleens in the village or the valley
Loved their bold Phelim Brady, the bard of Armagh

 

Oh, how I long to muse on the days of my boyhood
Though four-score and three years have flitted since then
But it bring sweet reflections as every young joy should
For the merry-hearted boys make the best of old men

 

And when Sergeant Death in his cold arms shall embrace me
Then lull me to sleep with sweet Erin go Bragh
By the side of my Kathleen, my young wife, then place me
And forget Phelim Brady, the bard of Armagh

   

This amateur version is louder - but perhaps not sung as angelically- though it does have more verses.

The Bard of Armagh

Oh list' to the strains of an old Irish harper
And scorn not the strings from his old withered hands
But remember those fingers could once move more sharper
To raise up the memory of his dear native land.

 

It was long ere the shamrock, our dear isle's lovely emblem
Was crushed in its beauty by the Saxon's red paw
And all the pretty colleens from village and valley
Loved the bold Phelim Brady, the Bard of Armagh.

 

How I love to muse on the days of my boyhood
Though four score and three years have fled by since then
It's king's sweet reflection that every young joy should
For merry-hearted boys make the best of old men.

 

At a fair or a wake I would twist my shillelah
And trip through a dance with my boots tied with straw
And all the pretty maidens from village and valley
Loved the bold Phelim Brady, the Bard of Armagh.

 

In truth I have wandered this whole wide world over
Yet Ireland's my home and a dwelling for me
And, oh, let the turf that my old bones shall cover
Be cut from the land that is trod by the free.

 

And when Sergeant Death in his cold arms shall embrace me
And lull me to sleep with sweet "Erin go bragh"
By the side of my Kathleen, my young wife, oh place me
Then forget Phelim Brady, the Bard of Armagh.

Now the tune to Bard of Armagh connects me straight away to the Laredo tune, though the content perhaps is different.

The original song traded on the misfortune of the Lad / Rake who having spread his oats too freely caught a venereal disease from one of his conquests. The Laredo version often called 'The Cowboys Lament' trades on the fact that a cowboy who shoots his own gun very often is likely to die by the bullet from another's gun. St James Infirmary continues these themes, but I cannot interpret 'The bard of Armagh' this way am I missing something?

Similarly I cannot see any similarity in the tune to St James Infirmary am I missing something here also ?

 

 

Anyway I shall just wait for Marty to Arrive