Invasion Song, The

DESCRIPTION: 'Sad and dismal is the tale I now relate to you, 'Tis all about the cattlemen, Them and their murderous crew." Nate and Nick are "murdered by Frank Canton and his crew" as they defend the town of Buffalo. The singer tells how cattle raiders were repelled
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1947 (Western Folklore, according to Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest)
KEYWORDS: cowboy homicide war outlaw
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1891-1892 - Peak of the "Johnson County War"
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 173-174, "Invasion Song" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, pp 574-575, "Invasion Song" (1 text)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, p. 415, "The Invasion Song" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Marilyn S. Johnson, _Violence in the West: The Johnson County Range War and the Ludlow Massacre: A Brief History with Documents_, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009, pp. 80-81, "The Invasion Song" (1 text, from Burt)
Roud #4051
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blood-Stained Diary" (subject)
NOTES [194 words]: Burt-AmericanMurderBallads links this with an event she calls the Johnson County War, a conflict in Wyoming between honest herders and cattle rustlers. There are, apparently, conflicting versions of what happened; see Burt-AmericanMurderBallads for details, or see "The Blood-Stained Diary."
There are several books on the topic: Billy O'Neil, The Johnson County War; John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County; Jack R. Gage, The Johnson County War Is A Pack Of Lies: The Baron's Side AND The Johnson County War Ain't A Pack Of Lies: The Rustler's Side; D. F. Babar, The Longest Rope: The Truth About The Johnson County Cattle War; and Marilynn S. Johnson, Violence In The West: The Johnson County Range War And Ludlow Massacre: A Brief History With Documents. Other books sound as if they might be about it, but I can't be sure. Just those five titles, though, show clearly how controversial the topic is!
The form of the piece makes me think that it was inspired by "The Persian's Crew" [Laws D4]. But since that song has many different tunes, that is no clue as to the melody.
This is item dB40 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: Burt173

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