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Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads

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JOE BOWERS My name is Joe Bowers, I've got a brother Ike, I came here from Missouri, Yes, all the way from Pike. I'll tell you why I left there And how I came to roam, And leave my poor old mammy, So far away from home. I used to love a gal there, Her name was Sallie Black, I asked her for to marry me, She said it was a whack. She says to me, "Joe Bowers, Before you hitch for life, You ought to have a little home To keep your little wife." Says I, "My dearest Sallie, O Sallie, for your sake, I'll go to California And try to raise a stake." Says she to me, "Joe Bowers, You are the chap to win, Give me a kiss to seal the bargain,"— And I throwed a dozen in. I'll never forget my feelings (p. 016) When I bid adieu to all. Sal, she cotched me round the neck And I began to bawl. When I begun they all commenced, You never heard the like, How they all took on and cried The day I left old Pike. When I got to this here country I hadn't nary a red, I had such wolfish feelings I wished myself most dead. At last I went to mining, Put in my biggest licks, Came down upon the boulders Just like a thousand bricks. I worked both late and early In rain and sun and snow, But I was working for my Sallie So 'twas all the same to Joe. I made a very lucky strike As the gold itself did tell, For I was working for my Sallie, The girl I loved so well. But one day I got a letter From my dear, kind brother Ike; It came from old Missouri, Yes, all the way from Pike. It told me the goldarndest news (p. 017) That ever you did hear, My heart it is a-bustin' So please excuse this tear. I'll tell you what it was, boys, You'll bust your sides I know; For when I read that letter You ought to seen poor Joe. My knees gave 'way beneath me, And I pulled out half my hair; And if you ever tell this now, You bet you'll hear me swear. It said my Sallie was fickle, Her love for me had fled, That she had married a butcher, Whose hair was awful red; It told me more than that, It's enough to make me swear,— It said that Sallie had a baby And the baby had red hair. Now I've told you all that I can tell About this sad affair, 'Bout Sallie marrying the butcher And the baby had red hair. But whether it was a boy or girl The letter never said, It only said its cussed hair Was inclined to be red. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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