A to Z Challenge 2016

C is for...

Cowboy Jack

Cowboy Jack was the hero in a song my mom used to sing to us to put us (and her grandchildren as they came along) to sleep.  It was a sad tale (as Cowboy songs usually are), about a Cowboy who fell in love with a fair maiden but through a misunderstanding (spoiler alert!) loses his lady love.

Because the song itself meant a lot to our family, for Mother's Day one year I made a set of mini-albums for us.

My mom loved to sing this song, and others.  You can't tell by this picture but she is actually standing on a chair, leading her group of friends in a song.







Here is the song of Cowboy Jack, and the mini-album I made for the family:



He was just a lowly cowboy
With a heart so brave and true
And he learned to love a maiden
With eyes of heaven's own blue

They had learned to love each other
And had named their wedding day
When a quarrel came between them
And Jack, he rode away.

He joined a band of cowboys
And tried to forget her name
But out on the lonely prairie
She waits for him the same.

One night when work was finished
Just at the close of day
Someone said, "Sing us a song, Jack,
T'will drive our cares away."







When Jack began his singing
His mind it wandered back
And he sang of a lonely maiden
Who waited for her Jack.

Jack left the camp next morning
Breathing his sweetheart's name
"I'll go and ask forgiveness
For I'm the one to blame."

But when he reached the prairie
He found a new made mound
And his friends, they sadly told him
They'd laid his loved one down.

They said as she was dying
She breathed her sweetheart's name
And with her last breath, asked them
To tell him when he came:



Your sweetheart waits for you, jack
Your sweetheart waits for you
Way out on the lonely prairie
Where the skies are always blue.

The reason why this song is such a memory to our family is that my mom (who was using this as a lullaby mind you) would sing the chorus after EVERY verse!  That would make this simple song last for about 10 minutes!  But, of course, it worked because all the babies fell asleep!  Here is the song (attributed to the Carter Family) if you want to hear it. 

And that is my "C" contribution to the A to Z Challenge.    How about you?  Any songs from your childhood?  Got a mom who likes to sing?  Love to hear your comments!