"The Texas Ranger", another ballad of the trail, is of the familiar "Come, all ye" pattern. It introduces an incident that is a reminder of the fact, that in the middle of the 19th century, the cowboys were useful to the on-coming settlers in repelling Indian attacks and in pushing the frontier westward.
The words of this song were published in books by Mellinger Henry, Louise Pound, John A. Lomax, and others, but the tunes seem to be rare.
- Mellinger Henry in "More Songs From the Southern Highlands" (1933) p. 349, no tune
- Louise Pound in "American Ballads and Songs" (1922), p. 163, no tune
John A. Lomax in "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads" (1910), pp. 44-46, no tune
But even before that, Henry Marvin Belden published the song in 1904.
In 1904, Harry Fore, one of Belden’s students from Gentryville, lent him a song manuscript dating from the 1870s in Gentry County. This included a 10 stanzas version of "Texas Rangers".
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And already in 1903 Emma Simmons sent Belden thirteen songs from her native Carroll County, Arkansas, ao."Texas Rangers".
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In an article in "The Journal of American Folklore" Vol. 25, No. 95 (Jan. - Mar., 1912), pp. 14-15, H. M. Belden states that "The Texas Rangers", despite its mention of Indians and the Rio Grande, is surely an echo of the great fight at the Alamo on March 6, 1835.
Belden also states that certain resemblances suggest that this was modelled on the British Ballad "Nancy of Yarmouth".
Albert H. Tolman and Mary O. Eddy in "The Journal of American Folklore" Vol. 35, No. 138 (Oct. - Dec., 1922), pp. 417-418
Sung to Miss Eddy by Mr. Summer, Canton, Ohio, learned by him about 1869.
In February 1939 in an article by Myra E. Hull in #1 of volume VIII of the Kansas Historical Quarterly the version has both words and music contributed by N.P. Power, Lawrence, February 18, 1938. He set the song down from memory as he heard it in 1876, while a cowboy on the John Hitson cattle ranch, eighteen miles north of Deer Trail, Colo. Mr. Power says that he has never seen the song in print and has no knowledge of the author. His version is much the earliest that Hull has found. This John Hitson is doubtless the one mentioned by T. U. Taylor (op. cit., p. 70) who drove cattle in 1868. Mr. Power thinks that the song here recorded was sung by Frank H. Long, whose father owned a ranch in Texas.
In 1939 the song is published in "Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan"
In 1940 the song is published in "Ballads and Songs of Indiana"
In 1944 the song is published in Vol 57 of the Journal of American Folklore (pp 72-76)
Volume 2 of the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore gives us 4 versions:
The lyrics were set to various tunes in the folk process. But the tune most often used nowadays, was probably introduced by the Cartwright Brothers in1929.
HERE ARE SOME RECORDINGS:
(o) Ernest V. Stoneman (1926) (as "The Texas Ranger")
Recorded April 1926
Released on Okeh 45054 (as the B-side of "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down")
http://www.discogs.com/Ernest-V-Stoneman-Dont-Let-Your-Deal-Go-Down-The-Texas-Ranger/release/4420832
Listen here:
(c) Lester McFarland and Robert A. Gardner (1927) (as "The Texas Ranger")
Recorded May 3, 1927
Released on Vocalion B 5177 and Brunswick 168
Listen here:
(c) Harry "Mac" McClintock (1928) (as "The Texas Rangers")
Recorded March 1, 1928 in Oakland, CA
Released on Victor 21487 and Montgomery Ward M-4784
Listen here:
(c) Cartwright Brothers (1929) (as "Texas Ranger")
Recorded August 11, 1929
Released on Victor V-40198 and re-released on Bluebird B-5355 and Montgomery Ward M-4460
Listen here:
As you can hear above the first three versions didn't use the familiar melody.
The Cartwright Brothers were probably the first act to use that familiar melody.
Most of the versions here below also use the melody of the Cartwright Brothers version
In 1937 Alan Lomax recorded Sarah Ogan Gunning singing a miner's version of the song.
(c) Sarah Ogan (Gunning) (1937) (as "Come All You Coal Miners")
Recorded on November 13, 1937 in New York City by Alan Lomax
Listen here: www.newworldrecords.org/media/fileImZcQ.mp3
In May 1939 Alan Lomax also recorded Sarah Ogan's sister, Aunt Molly Jackson, singing a version for the Library of Congress
(c) Aunt Molly Jackson (1939) (as "The Texas Rangers")
Recorded in May 1939 in New York City by Alan Lomax
Listen here: AFC19390122556B.mp3
(c) Sloan Matthews (1942) (as "The Texas Rangers")
on the album "Cowboy Songs, Ballads and Cattle Calls from Texas",
Library of Congress AFS L28, LP (1952), cut#A.05
Recorded in Pecos, Texas in 1942 (John A. Lomax)
(c) Paul Clayton (1957) (as "Texas Rangers")
Listen here:
(c) New Lost City Ramblers (1960) (as "Texas Rangers")
Listen here:
(c) Ian & Sylvia (1964) (as "Texas Rangers")
Listen here:
(c) Hedy West (1967) (as "The Texan Ranger")
Listen here:
(c) Almeda Riddle (1977) (as "Come All You Texas Rangers")
Listen here:
(c) Michael Martin Murphy (1990) (as "Texas Rangers")
Listen here:
(c) Cordelia's Dad (1992) (as "Texas Rangers")
Listen here:
(c) Jerry Douglas and Peter Rowan (1996) (as "Texas Rangers")
Listen here:
(c) Katy Moffatt (2001) (as "Texas Rangers")
Listen here:
Part of the tune and the lyrics of "(Come All You) Texas Rangers" were used in
the traditional song: "(Come All Ye) Tramps And Hawkers"
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