Clayton Boone- Jackson (WY) 1961 REC
[Harry Jackson learned his version of the song in Wyoming in the late 1930s from a cowboy named Ed Marchbank. Kenny Goldstein wrote that Harry met Ed Marshbank while he was a teenager working on Wyoming ranches, including the Whitt ranch on Rawhide Creek and the River Ranch on Wood River. On both these ranches, he apparently worked with Marshbank building corrals, and learned many songs from him, including "Clayton Boone."
Apparently the song refers to Clayton Boone, 1847-1947, a New Mexico pioneer, early settler and homesteader in the New Mexico Territory in 1897 and co founder of Hobbs New Mexico. He was also a famous spurmaker and the patriarch of the Boone Boys Wild West Show.
The ballad was recorded by Ed Trickett on People Like You (1982), and by Larry Hanks on Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail (1982).
R. Matteson 2012]
The Cowboy: His Songs, Ballads and Brag Talk
Harry Jackson FW05723 / FH 5723
Notes: Fascinated by horses and cowboys, but not by school, Harry Jackson (1924–2011) left his home in Chicago at age 14 to become a ranch hand and cowboy in Wyoming. While there, he learned cowboy songs from traditional singers, and he sings them here in the traditional unaccompanied manner. The songs portray the life of a cowboy in an authentic, unadorned fashion that is light-years removed from Hollywood and country western simulations.
After serving in World War II, Harry Jackson became a prominent artist, focusing on realistic western paintings and sculpture portraying cowboys and Native Americans.
Excerpt from: Woody Guthrie and His Folk Tradition
Richard A. Reuss
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 83, No. 329 (Jul. - Sep., 1970), pp. 273-303
In "Clayton Boone,"a 1961 variant recorded by cowboy-artist Harry Jackson, the southwestern trappings are even more elaborate. The ballad is set on the Mexican border, the boss's horse (replacing the lord's steed) is a dun, the saddle is silver, leather chaps are worn, and the gypsy is a sweet-singing mandolin player.
I rode until the midnight sun
Till I seen their campfire burnin',
And I heard the sweetest mandolin
And the voice of young Dave singin'.[64]
Since Jackson learned his version of the song in Wyoming in the late 1930s from a cowboy named Ed Marchbank, and Guthrie elsewhere asserts that he heard a dozen different texts over the years, [65] one is left with the conclusion that the verse and its western ornamentation are in large part traditional rather than a product of Woody's creative imagination.
Folkways Liner notes: CLAYTON BOONE
Here's an old world ballad dressed up in cowboy rigging. Commonly known as The Gypsy Laddie" (Child #200), this ballad in its early English and Scottish variants tells us the story of the gypsy leader, Johnny Faa, who sings at the gate of an absent lord, enticing the lady to come down. The gypsies bewitch her and she goes off with them. Upon his return the lord learns of his lady's defection, and sets out to bring her beck. In some versions he succeeds, and the gypsies die for their crime.
American versions, as in the cowboy text given here, usually end with the gypsy and lover triumphant over the wicked old lord. In its western setting, the ballad scene is somewhere on the Mexican border, the bosses horse is a black stripped (sic) dun, his saddle is silver, and the gypsy hero is a sweetsinging mandolin player.
For an interesting comparison with another cowboy version of this ballad, hear Woody Guthrie's rendition on the Library of Congress recording, AAFS L1.
For additional texts and infomation, see: Botkin II (Treasury of Western Folklore, p. 785 (Guthrie's Library of Congress version); also see Coffin British Traditional Ballad in North America), p. 120 for a listing of numerous American texts.
CLAYTON BOONE- Harry Jackson; Wyoming, 1961; Jackson learned his version of the song in Wyoming in the late 1930s from a cowboy named Ed Marchbank.
'Twas way out in New Mexico
Along the Spanish line
I was workin' for old Clayton Boone --
A man well past his prime.
He rides in and asks of me,
"What's happened to my lady?"
I says to him, "She's quit your range
And run with the handsome Davey."
"Go saddle for my proud cut dun
With the coal black mane and tail
Point out to me their fresh laid tracks
And after them I'll trail."
I'll bridle on my leather chaps--
I'll tie my pistol o'er,
I'll step aboard that black striped dun
And ride this whole world over."
I rode upon a saddle fine --
A saddle made of silver,
My bridle rein of beaten gold--
Not of your common silver.
I rode until the midnight sun --
'Til I saw their campfire burnin'
And I heard the sweetest mandolin
And the voice of the young Dave singin'.
"Come home with me to your own sweet bed --
The sheets turned down so gayly,
Do not forget my silver and gold
And your darling baby."
"Well, I'll not come home to my own sweet bed--
The sheets turned down so gayly,
And I'll forget your silver and gold
And all for the love of Davy,
But I can't forget my baby.
"Last night I slept with a mean old man
In golden rooms so stately,
Tonight I'll sleep on the hard cold ground
By the warm side of my Davey,
And I'll ride along with Dave."