Dying Outlaw, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come gather around me, my comrades and friends, The sun it is setting on life's short day.... Oh bury me on the lone prairie Where the hooves of the horses shall fall." The singer, killed by a "red-coated foeman," asks that his pony be buried with him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958
KEYWORDS: death burial outlaw police
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1873 - Establishment of the North West Mounted Police, who wore red jackets (hence the "red-coated foeman" of the song)
FOUND IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke/Mills/Blume-CanadasStoryInSong, pp. 139-141, "The Dying Outlaw (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 118, "The Dying Outlaw" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10957
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] and references there
NOTES [30 words]: A Canadian member of the "Dying Cowboy/Unofrtunate Rake" family. Despite the line in the refrain, it does not seem to have been influenced by "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie." - RBW
File: FMB139

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