A Ballad in Search of its Author

JOHN I. WHITE A Ballad in Search of its Author Of all the frustrations a poet could meet with, possibly the most exasperating is to see his work enjoy wide circulation, without his name attached. Such was the unique experience of the late Joseph Mills Hanson —poet, soldier, historian — who saw one of his poems pass into oral tradition via the cowboy song route, be­ come almost as famous as “The Old Chisholm Trail” or “Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies,” but never earn one bit of credit, or one bit of cash either, for its author. The accompanying verses, called “Cowboy Song” by Mr. Han­ son when he wrote them shortly after the turn of the century, are found in more than a score of published collections of American folksongs under the title “Railroad Corral” and in not a single in­ stance is Mr. Hanson’s name mentioned. This outstanding description of life on the cowtrail in the 1880s first appeared in Leslies Monthly Magazine for October 1904. When Mr. Hanson mailed it to the editor, he sent along a note ex­ plaining that he had written it with a tune in mind — the air of Sir Walter Scott’s stirring ballad “Bonnie Dundee.” But the note was mislaid in Leslie’s office, and the magazine’s readers never heard about “Bonnie Dundee.” However, some reader of Leslie’s recognized the poem’s singability and made up his own tune. And before long “Railroad Corral” was in circulation among Western Ballad singers who appreciated this authentic picture of the old time cowboy in action. Its popularity was further enhanced dur­ ing the 78 rpm era by commercial recordings made by Bill Bender, Merrick Jarrett, and others. The noted pioneer ballad collector John Avery Lomax of Texas ran across “Railroad Corral” and included the words in his famous A Ballad in Search of Its Author 59 volume Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, initially pub­ lished in 1910. As Mr. Lomax’s early efforts to publicize native American folk music caused no great stir, it was nearly four years later that the Literary Digest, then an influential weekly news mag­ azine, got around to commenting on the Lomax book and quoted a stanza from “Railroad Corral” as an example of a folksong that probably had its origin in “group improvisation.” From his home in Yankton, S.D., Mr. Hanson immediately addressed himself to the editor of the Digest and set the record straight. Accordingly, on April 25, 1914, the magazine acknowl­ edged “Railroad Corral’s” earlier appearance in Leslie’s and printed several additional stanzas of the poem and the following comment from the author: “While it is pleasant to know that this short ballad of mine possesses sufficient genuine feeling to have caused it to make a place for itself among American folksongs, it hardly seems right to let the error go uncorrected indefinitely. So even at the risk of spoiling such romance as a mysterious origin might throw around it, I am advising you of the facts, for at least your own per­ sonal information. I have no doubt Professor Lomax must have first heard the ‘Cowboy Song’ recited or sung in some obscure corner of the Southwest. I originally wrote it with the idea of adapting it to the old Scotch air ‘Bonnie Dundee’.” As further proof of authorship, Mr. Hanson pointed out that “Cowboy Song” had been republished in 1910 in a collection of original Hanson poems called Frontier Ballads (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago). Mr. Hanson also wrote to Mr. Lomax, who was sympathetic but at this point couldn’t do anything about assigning credit. However, Mr. Lomax must have mislaid his notes and his copy of the Literary Digest, because in 1938, when he and his son Alan issued a revised and enlarged edition of Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, “Railroad Corral” turned up again, with­ out any mention of Mr. Hanson. This time a tune had been added. The author of “Railroad Corral,” who now was connected with the National Park Service and living in Virginia, either never heard about this second volume or by this time had given up. There...