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I enjoyed the folk songs lecture. I like the fact that all of those songs tell stories. Some of the songs professor Isern sang were: "The Strawberry Roan", "Red River Valley", "The Farmer is the Man" and a song similar to "The Streets of Laredo." "The Strawberry Roan" is about a horse that can’t be ridden. The song starts out talking about a big talking bronc rider. The bronc rider says that he's good, but the strawberry roan is able to throw him. The horse is described as being roman nosed, having a long jaw, having pigeon toes, pin ears that touch at the tips, little pig eyes, and many other ugly features. These descriptions make the horse seem tough and an "outlaw" as the bronc rider says. The song that is similar to "The Streets of Laredo" is, I believe called "The Cowboy’s Lament." This song is about a dying cowboy who tells a bystander the story of his life and how he probably deserves to be dying right now because, "he's a young cowboy and knows he’s done wrong." He tells the bystander that he wants to be buried on the prairie and that he has a mother and a girl in the east. At this point Professor Isern explained how women in the east were considered "good women" and were civilized while women in the west were bad and had gone astray. In addition to this professor Isern told us that the good men always wanted to be buried back east where they came from while the outlaws who had gone astray wanted to be buried on the prairie.
I have heard several of these songs before and actually listen to them on my computer. Marty Robbins actually has recorded several of these songs like, "The Streets of Laredo," "The Strawberry Roan," and "The Red River Valley" as well as many other folk songs. These ballads always have some sort of action involving gun fights or outlaws, which make them even more interesting. I love cowboy stories and am glad that we could hear a few of these songs in class.