There's many a river that waters the land- What Song???

[dave sarlin]

I would like to get the words and music, provenance, etc. to a song about
rivers (Rio Grande, Brazos, others I think) with a chorus that goes like
this:

HI LI LI LEE LEE LEE
GIVE ME YOUR HAND(3)
THERE'S MANY A RIVER THAT WATERS THE LAND...

This song was quoted in an article in the HERS column in the Sunday Times
Magazine Section in November or December.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Dave

[Barrie McCombs]

The song has several titles. It is in Digital Tradition as either "The
Rivers of Texas", or "Brazos" as I remember. It's on Ian Tyson's "Old
Eon" album, I think.
- Barrie
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Barrie McCombs, MD, CCFP | Family Physician by day |
| bmcc...@acs.ucalgary.ca | Folk Musician during full moons |
| Calgary Folk Music URL: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~bmccombs/calfolk.html |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

dave sarlin (dsa...@cgininet.citicorp.com) wrote:
: I would like to get the words and music, provenance, etc. to a song about

[Paul J. Stamler]

Barrie McCombs (bmcc...@acs5.acs.ucalgary.ca) wrote:
: The song has several titles. It is in Digital Tradition as either "The

: Rivers of Texas", or "Brazos" as I remember. It's on Ian Tyson's "Old
: Eon" album, I think.

Win Stracke rewrote the song as "Down by the Embarras" to incorporate the
rivers of Illinois. Art Thieme recorded that on his first album,
"Outright Bold-Faced Lies", on Kicking Mule. And Fred Park did the same
for the rivers of Georgia, but I don't think that's been recorded.

I'm told someone tried to do a version about Nevada, but ran out of
rivers halfway through the first verse. <g>

Peace.
Paul

[Bill Steele]

>I'm told someone tried to do a version about Nevada, but ran out of
>rivers halfway through the first verse. <g>
>

And I'm told that in Nebraska they sing

We crossed the broad Platte, we forded the Platte
Swum the Platte, we followed the Platte... etc.

Seems the Platte meanders all over the state.

Back to serious business, Vance Randolph collected a version of the song and
published it in "Folk Songs of the Ozarks" as "The Rivers of Texas." I
believe he said it was collected in North Carolina from a schoolteacher who
was a former Texan.

[Mary Katherine Aldin]

Does anyone know a source for bagpipe chanter reeds in the Los Angeles
area> TIA.

[LAYATES]

The Weavers record the song on Volume 2 of their 1963 reunion album,
available on CD.

[RSandvik]

Ian Tyson did a nice version of this on a self-titled album that came out
in about 1982.

[Stephen]

In <4cmais$s...@ds2.acs.ucalgary.ca> bmcc...@acs5.acs.ucalgary.ca

(Barrie McCombs) writes:
>
>The song has several titles. It is in Digital Tradition as either
"The
>Rivers of Texas", or "Brazos" as I remember. It's on Ian Tyson's "Old

dave sarlin (dsa...@cgininet.citicorp.com) wrote:
>: I would like to get the words and music, provenance, etc. to a song
about
>: rivers (Rio Grande, Brazos, others I think) with a chorus that goes
like
>: this:
>
>: HI LI LI LEE LEE LEE
>: GIVE ME YOUR HAND(3)
>: THERE'S MANY A RIVER THAT WATERS THE LAND...
>
>: This song was quoted in an article in the HERS column in the Sunday
Times
>: Magazine Section in November or December.
>
>: Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
>: Regards,
>: Dave

The Weavers recorded it when Frank Hamilton came into the group in the
early 60's, replacing Eric Darling, who replaced Pete Seeger.
It may have been called "Down by the Brazos" and is is available on
tape from Vanguard, because I just bought it as part of a 4 part
Weavers collection.

Steve

[CamscoMus]

I've heard at least two other versions of this song.

Art Thieme sings The Rivers of Nebraska and Dick Levine, who used to run
the Middletown Folk Festival wrote a Rivers of New Jersey.

Wally Macnow

[-Watson,P.L.]

As has been noted, the song containing that line is
a Texas song, Brazos River. But, of course, when
you got something good, there's always plenty of
people around to copy it.

I am looking at a song called "Down By the
Embarras", derived from Brazos River, which has all
Illinois landmarks and rivers. Even so, there's many
a river that waters the land.

By the way, Embarras is pronounced "Ahm-brah" - just
like it's spelled, no?

Paul Watson

[Cyronwode]

All these variants of the song about Texas Rivers have not addressed the
question that now plagues my mind -- what's the origin of the song? 19th
century (sounds like it to me)? "Folk Tradition"? Written by one of The
Weavers? Anybody who knows, please post. Thanks

catherine yronwode
cyro...@aol.com
alt.lucky.w -- the newsgroup of synchronicity, amulets, and talismans
sustag-p...@ces.ncsu.edu -- e-mail list for the sacred landscape
http://sunSITE.unc.edu/london/The_Sacred_Landscape.html

[Bruce Macdonald]

-Watson,P.L. (plwa...@ihgp3.ih.att.com) wrote:
: As has been noted, the song containing that line is

: Paul Watson

Also Paddy Hernon does a wonderful version on his CD BY REQUEST

[Conrad Shiba]

Bill Staines has recorded a nice version. Don't recall which of his
albums it's on, but I think it was one of the early ones.

[Jim Bearden]

----------

>All these variants of the song about Texas Rivers have not addressed the
>question that now plagues my mind -- what's the origin of the song? 19th
>century (sounds like it to me)? "Folk Tradition"? Written by one of The
>Weavers? Anybody who knows, please post. Thanks
>

I believe it was written by Carolyn Hester, probably in the early 1960's, since it
appeared on her album at about that time. Some other _nice_ songs on the same
album, BTW (one of my personal favorites, still, is "10,000 Candles"), if you
can ever manage to find it anywhere.

[Paul J. Stamler]

Jim Bearden (jbea...@infoserv.com) wrote:
: ----------

It has to be older than that, because Win Stracke put together his
Illinois version sometime in the mid-1950s--at least, that's when people
started singing it around Chicago. I believe the original Texas song,
"Down by the Brazos", was collected by John Lomax in the 1920s, could be
wrong on the date though.

Peace.
Paul

[edb...@ibm.net]

In Article<766507d5...@jbearden.infoserv.com>, <jbea...@infoserv.com>
write:

> ----------
> >All these variants of the song about Texas Rivers have not addressed the
> >question that now plagues my mind -- what's the origin of the song? 19th
> >century (sounds like it to me)? "Folk Tradition"? Written by one of The
> >Weavers? Anybody who knows, please post. Thanks
> >
>
> I believe it was written by Carolyn Hester, probably in the early 1960's,
since it
> appeared on her album at about that time. Some other _nice_ songs on the
same
> album, BTW (one of my personal favorites, still, is "10,000 Candles"), if
you
> can ever manage to find it anywhere.

I believe you are mistaken. It is listed as song#201, "The Brazos
River", in Vance Randolph's "Ozark Folksongs", Vol. II, and the
notes say that it was collected in 1942 from a woman who learned
it in 1921.

Eric Berge
edb...@ibm.net

[MIKE REGENSTREIF]

In article <4d0ojo$p...@atlantic.centre.edu>, Conrad Shiba <sh...@centre.edu> writes:
>Bill Staines has recorded a nice version. Don't recall which of his
>albums it's on, but I think it was one of the early ones.
>
>
>

It's on THE WHISTLE OF THE JAY (Folk Legacy FSI-70) as "The Rivers of
Texas."

Mike Regenstreif
"Folk Roots/Folk Branches" on CKUT in Montreal
mre...@vax2.concordia.ca

[Hope124]

The only recording the Weavers made of Brazo's River was the 1963 Reunion
at Carnegie Hall,Part 2.Frank Hamilton takes the lead.The song was also
recorded by the Limelighters .Oh, The Weavers rendition is currently
available on a Vanguard CD.

Marty

[Ann Lawrence]

I recognize it from "The Rivers of Texas" recorded by Carolyn Hester in
the early 60's

[Tom Dearing]

There is at least one more. Win Strake of the Old Town School Of Folk Music wrote
"Down By The Embrass" which is a version that uses the rivers of Illinois.
How many other states have a version?

--
#################################################################

Go often to the house of thy friend
weeds choke the unused path. Emerson(1803-1882)

Tom Dearing
tdea...@isbe.state.il.us
tdea...@kiwi.dep.anl.gov
tomde...@aol.com
#################################################################
#################################################################

[Richard Webb]

Another recent version of this song appears on the CD "Songs of the
Trail" by Don Edwards (part of the Warner Western series). He titles it:
"Down by the Brazos."

Richard

[M. Garvey]

I wonder if other people have other words to this songs for other
states. I have some for Washington if anyone wants them. I have heard
there are lots but I have never seen them.

mg