Come List to a Ranger (The Disheartened Ranger)

DESCRIPTION: "Come list to a ranger, you kind-hearted stranger... Who fought the Comanches away from your ranches And followed them far o'er the Western frontier." He complains of the hard conditions he suffered, and warns the listener to keep watch for Comanches
AUTHOR: unknown (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Lomax, Cowboy Songs)
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) fight hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 181, "Come List to a Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 151, "The Disheartened Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon-WhorehouseBellsWereRinging 7, pp. 55-57, "Texas Ranger's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 268-269, "The Disheartened Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, COMELIST*
Roud #5481
RECORDINGS:
Carl T. Sprague, "The Disheartened Ranger" (Victor V-40066)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Disheartened RangerThe
NOTES [143 words]: The Texas Rangers were initially founded during the period of the Texas Rebellion, as the defense force of the new county. And Texas, from the moment it declared independence to the time it joined the United States, had budget problems. So it would be little surprise to find a particular soldier ill-paid.
Several of the versions, such as Logsdon-WhorehouseBellsWereRinging's, seem to go back to this period; the Ranger declares that he is quitting and going back to the "States." Other versions just sound like standard soldier complaints. It's not really clear which is original.
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest attributes this to "M. B. Smith" but offers no explanation for the attribution. Perhaps this was the authorship credit on the Carl T. Sprague recording that was the basis for the Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest text? - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: R181

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