Lyr Req: Gettin' in the Cows (Charlie Maguire)

Subject: needed lyrics & name for:
From: marla
Date: 14 Feb 97 - 09:26 AM

hi y'll, I need the name and the lyric for a tune i hear years ago, and of which I remember very little. The last line of the chorus is something like: "wait a month at the dairy for the check to come in." Part of it is about getting up early in the morning and milking the cows while listening to the radio. (I think) I would really appreciate it if anyone could tell me any thing about the song; composed or tradition, who the composer is, if any...that sort of thing. Peas y'll, marla

Subject: RE: needed lyrics & name for:
From: lynn
Date: 15 Feb 97 - 04:32 PM

'fraid I can't help with this, but I'm also looking for a name andlyrics: The refrain is: For the tinkerman's daughter, the red-headed Anne.

This song has haunted me for a long time. I'd love some information.

Subject: RE: needed lyrics & name for:
From: LaMarca
Date: 16 Feb 97 - 11:10 AM

The song is "Gettin' In the Cows" by Minnesota songwriter Charlie Maguire. He sings it on the Prarie Home Companion 10th Anniversary album. Art Thieme also recorded it on one of his Folk Legacy albums. Charlie says he wrote it for his father, a dairy farmer. He described the daily chores on the farm, and says that's why he's a folksinger now, instead of staying in the family business...

Subject: Lyr Add: TINKERMAN'S DAUGHTER (Mickey MacConnell)
From: Valerie
Date: 25 Feb 97 - 07:25 PM

I can't help with the original request, but I do have the lyrics to the (rather long) Irish song, "THE TINKERMAN'S DAUGHTER", from an album called Circles of Stone, by Ceili's Muse, a 3-woman vocal group from Austin (I think) in Texas. The CD was privately produced and has a catalogue number SM6873, which means nothing to me. I came across the song when the band turned up unannounced in my local pub (in Scotland) on one strange evening. They sing beautiful songs beautifully. What more is there? The song is credited to a Michael McConnel.
Enjoy...

The small birds were lining the bleak autumn branches
Preparing to fly to a far sunny shore,
When the tinkers made camp at a bend in the river
Returning from the horse fair in Ballinsloe.
Now the harvest being o'er, the farmer went walkin'
Along the Faele River that borders his land,
And 'twas there he first saw her 'twixt firelight and water,
The tinkerman's daughter, the redheaded Ann.

Next morning he rose from a night without resting.
He went straight to the tinker and made himself known,
And at a pub in Listowell they worked out a bargain,
To the tinker a pony, to the daughter a home.
Where the trees cast their shadows along the Faele River,
The tinker and the farmer they inspected the land,
And a white gelding pony was the price they agreed on
For the tinkerman's daughter, the redheaded Ann.

Now the wedding soon o'er, the tinkers departed.
They were eager to travel on south down the road,
But the sound of the iron-shod wheels' crunch on gravel
Was as bitter to her as the way she'd been sold.
But she tried hard to please him; she did all his bidding.
She slept in his bed and she worked on the land,
But the walls of that cabin pressed tighter and tighter
Around the tinkerman's daughter, the redheaded Ann.

Now as white as the hands of a priest or the hangman,
The snow spread its blanket the next Christmas round,
And the tinkerman's daughter slipped out from her bedside,
Turned her back to the land and her face to the town,
And it's said someone saw her at dusk that same evening.
She was making her way out by Liracrumpane,
And that was the last that the settled folk saw her,
The tinkerman's daughter, the redheaded Ann.

When the north Kerry hills cut the Faele at Listowell,
At a farm on its banks lives a bitter old man,
And he swears by the shotgun he keeps by his bedside
That he'll kill any tinker that camps on his land.
And yet, when he hears iron-shod wheels crunch on gravel,
Or a horse in the chaps of a bright caravan,
His day's work's tormented, his night's sleep's demented
By the tinkerman's daughter, the redheaded Ann.

Valerie

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 20-Aug-02.

Subject: Lyr Add: GETTIN' IN THE COWS (Charlie Maguire)
From: rich r
Date: 26 Feb 97 - 08:21 PM

GETTIN' IN THE COWS
Charlie Maguire (1982)

CHORUS: Gettin' in the cows, shoo 'em in the barn,
Put 'em in the stanchion, turn the radio on,
Milk 'em all dry, send 'em out again,
Wait a month on the dairy for the check to come in.

Well, I start my day in the sun-up dark.
I'm goin' down the lane to bring the milk cows up.
I've got a Holstein and a Jersey and a one-eyed steer,
Old brown cow jumps fences like a deer.
Dew's on the ground and my feet are wet.
I got a light in hand, hat on my head,
Down to the pasture to get my herd,
Just chewin' their cud and lookin' at the birds. CHO.

Well, get up you cows! I get 'em on the move.
Their udders are swinging like water in balloons.
I go up to the barn and they know their place,
With the lead one first, and I close the gate,
Bring the cart around, give them all some feed.
They lick their nose, flap their ears at me.
I put on the machine and it feels so good,
They let down their milk like a good cow should. CHO.

Well a tourist says a cow's face is so fine,
But I see the back ends most of the time,
Sweat all summer to put hay in the mow,
Then work all winter to feed it to the cow.
Well, the milkin's all done. I got the weather report.
I got my day all planned for my job of work.
Back to the pasture goes part of my life.
Now I'm going in the house and hug my wife. CHO. 2X

Moooving, isn't it?

rich r

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 20-Aug-02.

Subject: RE: needed lyrics & name for:
From: belter
Date: 27 Feb 97 - 09:18 AM

AAh! that takes me back home.

Subject: RE: needed lyrics & name for:
From:
Date: 12 Mar 97 - 02:33 PM

Is there a melody for this?

Subject: RE: needed lyrics & name for:
From:
Date: 12 Mar 97 - 07:32 PM

no,it's chanted-like Gregorian chant-by dairy farmers as they milk each cow--in the same rhythm that they use for milking, so whenever......oh, never mind, I can't go on....

Subject: RE: needed lyrics & name for:
From: rich r
Date: 12 Mar 97 - 11:06 PM

With some minor corrections the melody can be found on the recordings described earlier in the thread. One correction is that Charlie Maguire wrote the song in 1972, not 1982 as I put with the lyrics, my mistake. His version of the song is found on A Prairie Home Companion Anniversary Album. The album was actually in honor of their 5th anniversary and issued in 1980. I think Maguire also has it on his first album, but since I only have his second and third, I cannot guarantee that. I transcribed the words from the Prairie Home recording. The tune is quite bouncy, if anyone is desparate for it they can e-mail me.

rich r

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: needed lyrics & name for:
From: LaMarca
Date: 13 Mar 97 - 10:43 AM

A slight deviation from the original lyrics has crept into some performances of the song (my husband's, for instance), making the 4th verse start:

"Well, some folks say a cow's face is so fine/But I see the udder end most of the time..."

Causes the audience to groan almost every time...