The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-04-17

had their origin, not in New York, but
In the Southwest-they are songs
which the cowboys used to singi
This incident is another example of
the increasing interest Of Americans
In the folklore of their country. That
interest has manifested itself in vari-
Gus forms-in the popularity of the
negro spirituals Of the South, in the
revival Of singing of ballads of past
generations (ballads which prove con-
clusively that, although many of them
trace back directly to the old English
ballads, America had a native ball
ladry) and in the wider dissemina-
ton Of the legends of Paul Bunyan,
Pecos Bill and John Henry, myth
heroes created in the fertile magma
tons of the lumberjacks, the cowboys
and the negro railroad workers, re-
spectively.
The play referred to above takes its
name from a song, "Green Grow the
Lilacs," which has been sung in the
Southwest for generations. Its origin
is yelled in obscurity. One critic has
ventured the opinion that it traces its
ancestry back to Robert Burns poem,
Screen Grow the Rashes." If so, per-
haps somewhere in the line of descent
may be found a song popular with the
American soldiers during the Mexican
war, Screen Grow the Rushes, o."
and there is a legend that the Mexican
name for Americans, "gringoes' is a
corruption Of the words green grows"
Another of the songs of this play
which is said to have been an old
favorite in the Southwest, hence was
well known In Oklahoma, the native
state of Lynn Riggs, author of the
play, is "My Name is Sam Hail."
There Is no doubt about the origin of
this song for it comes from London
where it was cellar ditty. In 1913
W. G. Ross, Scotch low comedian,
was singing in Cider Cellars in Maiden
Lane, Covent Gardens, (the original,
incidentally, Of Back Kitchen in "Pen-
dennis") a song, the first and last
verses Of which were:
My name is Sam Hall-Tm a thief.
MY name it is Sam Hall,
And I've robbed both great and small,
And my greeting to you all:
Damn your eyesi
And now I'm going to hell, going to
hell
And now I'm going to hell. going to
HE'LL
And now I'm going to hell,
But what bloody sell
Ii you all go there as well,
Damn your eyes!
How did this song find it's way to
the old Indian territory? Did some
adventurous Cockney carry it there or
did some disgraced younger son." who
could not live in England and who had
fed to the American frontier where
no questions were asked about a mans
past, first sing 1t along the banks Of
the Canadian or the Cimarron? No
one knowsi But the cowboys once
sang it on the Oklahoma range and it
is their version, slightly changed from
the original English version, which is
being sung on Broadway today.
In reality, though, this is not so un-
usual for an examination of the col
lection of old cowboy songs, made by
John A. Lomax of Texas several years
ago, will show that many Of the IA
vorites among the cowboys, especially
those Of the more sentimental type
(and the cowboy was strong for the
song which dripped with sentimental
ityD closely resemble some of the old
English ballads and probably trace
directly from them. Some typical
ones, given in the Lomax collection
are those which bear the titles Bon
ME Black Bess,' Fair Fannie Moore"
Her White Bosom Bare" and Young
Charlotte"
More than that, Investigators Of
this type of folk song have revealed
the fact that many of the best known
cowboy songs are nothing more than
adaptations of sentimental ballads Of
an earlier day. This is true of one