Streets of Laredo
Performed by Richard Villmer.
Recorded October 24, 2023 in Old Mines, Missouri.
Telephone recording. Fragment.
No, that ain't the one I'm thinking about, Derek,
that ain't the right one.
The one I'm thinking about is:
As I walked out on the streets of Laredo,
As I walked out one early one day,
There passed by a handsome young stranger,
Dressed in white linens and clothes for the grave
Play the pipe slowly and beat the drum softly,
And play the march loud as you carry me along
See, I'm singing that, but it sounds like it's me,
and then also a past tense of someone else,
so I don't know if that's right or not.
Let's see.
Play the march loud as you carry me along,
take me to the graveyard, throw the sod over me,
I'm a poor blind cowboy and I know I've done wrong
As I walked out on the streets of Laredo,
As I walked out one early one day,
I had some young stranger dressed in white linen,
And clothes for the grave
And then it goes on to the chorus.
Throw the sod over me,
I'm poor blind cowboy and I know I've done wrong
Let's see.
Once in my saddle,
I used to go a-dashing
Yeah, I'm not sure about these words.
Once in my saddle I used to ride days,
But I got to thinking and I got to playing,
I was shot by a gambler, and I'm dying today
And it goes through the chorus again, and the very last is,
go get me a cup—and this is done slowly,
A cup of cold water,
a cup of cold water and bring it out here
But when I'd returned, the spirit had left him,
He'd gone to his savior, the cowboy was dead
Seems like he's singing about somebody else,
but it also sounds like he's singing about himself.