Trail to Mexico, The [Laws B13]

DESCRIPTION: The singer is hired by A.J. Stinson to drive a herd to Mexico. While away, his sweetheart has left him for a richer man. Though she asks him to remain at home and safe, he sets out for the trail again and swears to spend the rest of his life on the trail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: cowboy rejection poverty
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Laws B13, "The Trail to Mexico"
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #70, p. 241-242, "I Made Up My Mind (The Trail to Mexico, Laws B13)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin-SingingCowboy, pp. 61-63, "Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 138, "The Mexico Trail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 285-286, "The Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 66, "The Trail to Mexico" (5 texts, 1 tune, of which only the "A" and "B" texts go here; "C" and "D" are "Early, Early in the Spring" and "E" is "Going to Leave Old Texas")
Botkin-TreasuryOfAmericanFolklore, pp. 858-859, "Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HellBoundTrain 62, "Trail to Mexico" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #49, "Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
ArkansasWoodchopper, pp. 34-35, "The Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tinsley-HeWasSinginThisSong, pp. 36-39, "The Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 394-395, "The Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saffel-CowboyPoetry, pp. 197-199, "The Trail to Mexico" (1 text)
DT 380, TRAILMEX
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 25, #4 (1977), pp, 22-23, "Following the Cowtrail" (1 text, 1 tune, the Carl T. Sprague version)
Powder River Jack and Kitty Lee's _Songs of the Range: Cowboy Wails of Cattle Trails_, Chart Music, 1937, p. 50, "The Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #23455
RECORDINGS:
Bill Bender (The Happy Cowboy), "Trail to Mexico" (Elite X17, n.d., rec. 1939)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "The Trail to Mexico" (Victor V-40016, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4469 [as Harry "Mac" McClintock and his Haywire Orchestra], 1934)
Len Nash & his Country Boys, "The Trail to Mexico" (Brunswick 354, 1929; Supertone S-2069, 1930)
Pete Seeger, "Trail to Mexico" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a)
Carl T. Sprague, "Following the Cow Trail" (Victor 20067, 1925; Montgomery Ward M-4468, 1934; on AuthCowboys)
Texas Rangers, "The Trail to Mexico" (Decca 5183, 1936)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Early, Early in the Spring" [Laws M1] (plot)
cf. "Buffalo Skinners" [Laws B10a] (a few overlapping lyrics)
NOTES [67 words]: Cox and Fife both consider this to be derived from "Early, Early in the Spring" [Laws M1], and even Laws concedes kinship. Roud in fact lumps the songs. However, as Laws also notes, "the cowboy ballad... shows considerable reworking." - RBW
It's also worth noting that this song, "Boggy Creek," and "Buffalo Skinners" share enough lyrics, plot elements, etc. to make life interesting and confusing. - PJS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LB13

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