"(Oh) Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" is one of the most well-known cowboy ballads, also known as "The Dying Cowboy".
This ballad is an adaptation of a sea song called "The Sailor's Grave" or "The Ocean Burial", which begins with a similar line "O bury me not in the deep, deep sea".
"The Ocean Burial" started life as a poem, titled "The Ocean Buried", written by Edwin Hubbell Chapin, published in 1839. He wrote the poem in his youth and it was published on June 22, 1839 in vol 4 of the "Universalist Union", under the name of Rev. E. H. Chapin.
It was also published in September 1839 in Edgar Allan Poe's "Southern Literary Messenger" vol V, pp.6l5-6l6, 1839,
Page 615 The Southern literary messenger (Click to zoom in)
Page 616 The Southern literary messenger (Click to zoom in)
The next link describes the life of Edwin H. Chapin.
In 1850 the poem of Chapin was set to music by George N. Allen. The music is not the well-known melody from the later "cowboy" version.
Listen here:
The earliest publication of the cowboy version of the song may be that in the Montpelier "Vermont Watchman" (June 1, 1887), p. 7, where it is said to have been known in Texas in the spring of 1880 as "The Song of the Dying Cow-boy"
SONG OF THE DYING COW-BOY
"Oh! bury me not on the lone prairie!"
These words came slow and mournfully
From the pallid lips of a youth who lay
On his dying couch at the close of day.
His cheeks grew pale and his pulse beat slow,
As the clouds of death o'er him rolled;
He talked of home and the loved ones there,
As the cow-boys gathered to see him die.
"Oh! bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyotes will howl over me,
For I always wished to be buried, when I died,
In the little church-yard on the green hillside.
"It matters not, so I've been told,
Where the body lies when the heart grows cold,
But when I am gone weep not for me;
Oh! bury me not on the lone prairie.
"Oh! bury me not" --and the words failed there;
But we heeded not his dying prayer.
In a narrow grave, just six by three,
We buried him there on the lone prairie.
There the wind blows cold on a dark old trail,
There the moonbeams sparkled on a prairie grave.
'Tis the well-known tramp of a poor cow-boy
Who stayed far away on an old cow-trail.
The next known step is a song entitled "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie", with words and music by William Jossey and copyrighted Nov. 9, 1907, by Clarence E. Sinn & Bros., Criterion Theatre Bldg., Chicago, Ill.
Familiar words are present, but the music here is also not the well-known music. Probable first printing: Front cover has a drawing of a cowboy on the ground next to a horse, refers to "The End of the Trail" and is brown, tan and green,
The first version of the song, accompanied with the well-known music, was published, as "The Dying Cowboy", in John Lomax's "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads" in 1910.
The complete version is on the next link:
A version of the song with a different melody and slightly different lyrics was also collected and published in Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag.
The first recording of this song was by Bentley Ball for Columbia in May, 1919, as part of a group of folksongs rendered in concert-hall style for "cultured" listeners.
Among those was also the first recording of "Gallows Trees" (which became a classic, recorded by Leadbelly as "Gallis Pole" and Led Zeppelin as "Gallows Pole"). SEE NEXT LINK
And the first recording of "Jesse James". SEE NEXT LINK
Bentley Ball also wrote a book in which he made some comments on cowboy songs like "Jesse James" and "The Dying Cowboy". His source for the "Dying Cowboy" ballad was John A. Lomax's 1910 lyrics as printed above.
(o) Bentley Ball (1920) (as "The Dying Cowboy")
Recorded April 1919 in New York
Matrix # 90038
Released in 1920 on Columbia A3085.
Listen here: THE DYING COWBOY - Bentley Ball.mp3
A few years later Carl T. Sprague recorded the familiar "cowboy" version
(c) Carl T. Sprague (1926) (as "O Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie (The Dying Cowboy)")
Recorded June 22, 1926 in New York
Released on Victor 20122
Listen here:
Vernon Dalhart recorded the song for several labels. First on the Edison-label.
(c) Vernon Dalhart (1927) (as "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie")
Recorded February 7, 1927 in New York
Released on Edison Disc #51949 and Edison Cylinder #5315
(c) Vernon Dalhart (1927) (as "Oh Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie (The Dying Cowboy)")
Recorded March 22, 1927 in New York
Released on Columbia 969-D
(c) Vernon Dalhart (1927) (as "The Dying Cowboy (Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie)")
Recorded April 2, 1927 in New York
Released on Brunswick 137
Listen here: Vernon Dalhart - The Dying Cowboy mp3
(c) Vernon Dalhart (1927) (as "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie")
Recorded July 12, 1927 in New York
Released on Melotone Canada 83039
Listen here:
(c) Jules Allen (1929) (as "The Dying Cowboy")
Recorded April 27, 1929
Released on Victor 23834
(c) The Girls of the Golden West (1933) (as "The Dying Cowboy On The Prairie")
Recorded December 5, 1933 in Chicago.
Released on Bluebird B-5382
Listen here
(c) Mrs. Annie Mae Mauldin (1937) (as "Oh, bury me not in the deep, deep sea")
Recorded in 1937 in High Springs, Florida for the Library of Congress
(c) Carter Family (1939) (as "Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie")
From radio transcription discs made in Texas in 1939.
(c) Cisco Houston (1952) (as "The Dying Cowboy")
(c) Johnny Cash (1965) (as "Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie")
(c) Johnny Cash (1994) (as "Oh, Bury Me Not" (Introduction: "A Cowboy's Prayer")
More versions here:
In 1934 Carson Robison wrote a song titled "Carry Me Back To The Lone Prairie", which melodically is a blueprint of "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie", and also has floating lyrics
The song was probably written for the movie "Stars Over Broadway", starring James Melton.
In fact James Melton recorded a version of this song on March 19, 1934 for the Brunswick label in New York, but this version was never released.
In 1935 James Melton sang the song in the movie "Stars Over Broadway".
And he also recorded the song on October 31, 1935 for the Victor label.
Listen here: Carry Me Back To The Lone Prairie - James Melton.mp3
BTW: This "Dying Cowboy" variation is NOT TO BE CONFUSED with another "Dying Cowboy" SEE: ----Joop's Musical Flowers: Cowboy's Lament 1927 / Dying Cowboy (1927) / Streets of Laredo 1929
And this "Oh Bury Me NOT On The Lone Prairie" variation is also NOT TO BE CONFUSED with "Oh Bury Me OUT On The Lone Prairie" (or "I've Got No Use For The Women")
(o) Travis B. Hale and E.J. Derry (1927)
Listen here:
How do I send you a copy of Bently Ball's version of "The Dying Cowboy?"
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI have send you an answer on this adress
BeantwoordenVerwijderenhttps://kpov.org/contact-kpov
Is this correct ?
Joop greets
Chuck, I added the song. Thanks a lot, again.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenJoop greets