Cowboy's Wedding Ring- Cavanagh (Douro, ON) 1962
[From: American Cowboy and Western Pioneer Songs in Canada by Edith Fowke Western Folklore, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Oct., 1962), pp. 247-256. Fowke's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2102, 2014]
One unusual song that circulated in the Ontario lumber camps is a cowboy version of "The Broken Ring." So far I have found no report of this from any other source. It is particularly interesting because of its close parallel to the Hind Horn story (Child 17). It was sung by Tom Cavanagh of Douro, who learned it from his father, and it goes to the tune of "Jack and Joe."
A cowboy with his sweetheart stood beneath a starlit sky.
Tomorrow he was leaving for the lonesome prairie wide.
She said, "I'll be your loving bride when you return some day."
He handed her a broken ring and to her then did say:
"You'll find, sweetheart, upon that ring my name engraved in gold,
And I shall keep the other half, it bears your name you know." (H94.5)
Three years have passed, he didn't come, and Nell she weds tonight.
Her father said an heir would make their happy home so bright.
The lights were gaily glowing as they stood there side by side.
"Let's drink a toast to this fair young man and to his lovely bride."
Just then there stood within the door a figure tall and slim.
A handsome cowboy was their guest and slowly he walked in.
"I'll drink a toast with you," he said, and quickly in the glass
He dropped the half of a wedding ring and anxiously he watched.
She tipped the glass and from her lips a ring fell shining bright,
A token she had longed to see lie there beneath the light.
"Though years have been between us, dear, love's won the long last fight,
It's you, my cowboy sweetheart back, and my Jack I'll wed tonight."