Beat the Drum Slowly- Flora Lassiter c. 1890s
[This is, of course, a fragment of the famous cowboy ballad, "The Streets of Laredo."
R. Matteson 2014]
BEAT THE DRUM SLOWLY
1. "A sup of cold water; a sup of cold water
A sup of cold water before I die!"
Before it could reach him his spirit had left him,
And gone away to his Maker on high.
CHORUS
Then beat the drum slowly and play the fife slowly,
And play the dead march as they carry me along
Take me out to the graveyard and place the sod o'er me,
For I'm a poor cowboy and I know I've done wrong.
2. Go tell the sad news to my father and mother,
Go tell the sad news to my sister so dear;
But there is another that's dearer than a brother,
God bless you, my darling, I wish you were here.
This is written just as Mrs. McDowell remembers. This must be a fragment of a longer song. Her husband also remembers it, but his memory is more fragmentary than here; though he clearly recalls that there were better lines, including "early one morning" among the words. He played the harmonica in his boyhood, and this was one of his tunes. There is very little difference in the
tune as remembered by the two comparison with other and longer versions of this or a similar line fails to refresh the memory of either to the point of supplying any more than what is given above.