Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads

<p class="tit-song">BRIGHAM YOUNG. II. <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="page401" name="page401"></SPAN>(p. 401)</span></p> <p>Now Brigham Young is a Mormon bold,<br/> And a leader of the roaring rams,<br/> And shepherd of a lot of fine tub sheep<br/> And a lot of pretty little lambs.<br/> Oh, he lives with his five and forty wives,<br/> In the city of the Great Salt Lake,<br/> Where they breed and swarm like hens on a farm<br/> And cackle like ducks to a drake.</p> <p class="add1em"><span class="add1em">Chorus:&mdash;</span><br/> Oh Brigham, Brigham Young,<br/> It's a miracle how you survive,<br/> With your roaring rams and your pretty little lambs<br/> And your five and forty wives.</p> <p>Number forty-five is about sixteen,<br/> Number one is sixty and three;<br/> And they make such a riot, how he keeps them quiet<br/> Is a downright mystery to me.<br/> For they clatter and they chaw and they jaw, jaw, jaw,<br/> And each has a different desire;<br/> It would aid the renown of the best shop in town<br/> To supply them with half they desire.</p> <p>Now, <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="page402" name="page402"></SPAN>(p. 402)</span> Brigham Young was a stout man once,<br/> And now he is thin and old;<br/> And I am sorry to state he is bald on the pate,<br/> Which once had a covering of gold.<br/> For his oldest wives won't have white wool,<br/> And his young ones won't have red,<br/> So, with tearing it out, and taking turn about,<br/> They have torn all the hair off his head.</p> <p>Now, the oldest wives sing songs all day,<br/> And the young ones all sing songs;<br/> And amongst such a crowd he has it pretty loud,&mdash;<br/> They're as noisy as Chinese gongs.<br/> And when they advance for a Mormon dance<br/> He is filled with the direst alarms;<br/> For they are sure to end the night in a tabernacle fight<br/> To see who has the fairest charms.</p> <p>Now, if any man here envies Brigham Young<br/> Let him go to the Great Salt Lake;<br/> And if he has the leisure to enjoy his pleasure,<br/> He'll find it a great mistake.<br/> One wife at a time, so says my rhyme,<br/> Is enough,&mdash;there's no denial;&mdash;<br/> So, before you strive to be lord of forty-five,<br/> Take two for a month on trial.</p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />