Bryant's Ranges O

DESCRIPTION: "Most blackly looked the weather, The showers down did gush As Joe and I together Were tramping to the rush" on Bryant's Ranges. The trip is slow; Joe drinks too much; the sun is hot; the mining pays very little
AUTHOR: Charles R. Thatcher (1831-1878)
EARLIEST DATE: 1854 (AndersonStory)
KEYWORDS: mining travel hardtimes
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Anderson-StoryOfAustralianFolksong, pp. 35-36, "Bryant's Ranges O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Anderson-GoldrushSongster, pp. 48-49, "Bryan'ts Ranges O" (1 text, 1 ttune)
Anderson-FarewellToOldEngland, pp. 192-193, "Bryant's Ranges O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hoskins-GoldfieldBalladeer-LifeAndTimes-Charles-R-Thatcher, pp. 177-178, "Bryant's Ranges O" (1 text)
ST AnSo035 (Partial)
NOTES [144 words]: For brief background on Thatcher's career, see the notes to "Where's Your License?" For an extensive collection of his songs, see Anderson-StoryOfAustralianFolksong.
Hoskins-GoldfieldBalladeer-LifeAndTimes-Charles-R-Thatcher says this was sung to the tune of "Bow Wow Wow" ("Guy Fawkes"/"Jog Along Till Shearing"). The fit is imperfect -- close, but there are lines that I just can't make scan to that tune. Anderson's tune doesn't look like the "Bow Wow Wow" I know, either. It appears that Hoskins confused the attribution of "Bryant's Ranges O" with another Thatcher song, "Bryant's Ranges," which is also said to use "Bow Wow Wow" and which fits the tune perfectly;it begins, "Oh what a curious world this is, so various in its changes." The full text of the latter is in Anderson-GoldrushSongster, pp. 50-51, Anderson/Thatcher-GoldDiggersSongbook, pp. 27-28.- RBW
Last updated in version 5.3
File: AnSo035

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