[Ads-l] "The Red River Valley" (song; antedating to 1879)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Bonnie,

Thanks for this info.

For "Hard Crackers" (1861) :
https://www.newspapers.com/image/541992753/?match=1&terms=%22hard%20crackers%20come%20again%22

"Hard Tack" (1863):
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1033355949/?match=1&terms=%22hard%20tack%20come%20again%22

And other appearances.

So Fowke's reasoning was that if  "cowboy" appears in a later version of a
song, but not in earlier ones, it's unlikely that the song is of U.S.
origin.

Fascinating.

Google "mudcat.org" + "Red River Valley" for 27 years of more discussion
than you could possibly want, some of it worthwhile.

Best,
Jon

On Sun, Apr 20, 2025 at 11:49 AM Bonnie Taylor-Blake <
b.taylorblake at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Apr 20, 2025 at 10:17 AM Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > OTOH, the Red River is prominent in Louisiana (there was even a Red River
> > campaign during the Civil War). My own theory (i.e., SWAG) is that
> > Speyerer was the author (of the lyrics, anyway), and that "Red River" was
> > an obvious concretization for Louisianans (and Texans) of the vague
> "happy"
> > valley.
>
> Thanks, Jon. (I do think the prospects for a Canada-specific origin,
> especially one tied to that campaign, are looking a little dim.)
>
> Speaking of Texas (and you may have seen me post this elsewhere),
> here's the version of the song in an October, 1887 issue of an Indiana
> newspaper. An early one, it's missing a specific reference to the Red
> River (either southwestern or northern), but it's the first I've seen
> that includes a reference to a cowboy. (Canadian folklorist Edith
> Fowkes had felt that early versions lacking "cowboy" argued against an
> American origin.)
>
> In that month the lyrics had just been found on the body of Amer
> Green, a local accused of murder, who was lynched in Delphi, Indiana.
>
> https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-27-1887-5041076/
>
> The unnamed reporter noted that "[o]n Amer's person was found a pocket
> memorandum book" that contained several items. He continued, "But the
> most interesting document [found there] was a poem, evidently written
> to be sung, but probably not yet set to music, of which the following
> is a true copy" [lyrics available at the clipping above].
>
> "F.C. Hartman, June the 22, 1887" was appended at the end of the poem
> and the reporter notes that "[t]his poem is in Amer's hand writing and
> 'Frank C. Hartman' is the name under which Green passed while in
> Texas." (Green had been living in Texas for at least a few months
> before he was returned to Delphi for the trial he never got.)
>
>
> As I've posted elsewhere, I also have some anecdotal evidence that
> forms of the song circulated in the American Midwest as early as 1881.
>
> Here it is in Missouri:
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/rolla-herald-bright-little-valley-red-r/170651900/
> .
> Now, that’s a little weak, but note that this appeared before the
> publication of the very different “A Bright Little Valley” (1883),
> https://www.loc.gov/resource/music.musihas-100004512/?st=gallery.
>
> And two snippets from Kansas in 1887 and 1888 show incorporation of
> some of the lyrics into newspaper texts:
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/osawatomie-graphic-bright-little-valley/170651998/
> ,
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olsburg-news-letter-remember-this-br/170652043/
> .
>
> > Speaking of the Civil War, the earlier versions of the song "Hardtack [or
> > "Hard Crackers"] Come Again No More" were known in the Union Army at that
> > time.
>
> Ah, thank you. (And, GO AMERICA.)
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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