Re: Cowboy's Lament - Ennis Happily Humming
by - CaseyCornelius (Mon Jan 30 2006 08:13:52 )
UPDATED Mon Jan 30 2006 09:12:05
Scott6373:
Saw the film again last night and you're spot on - Jack is definitely attempting to play 'He Was a Friend of Mine'. The question is whether this is a realistic plot detail from a historical perspective. How might Jack have picked it up? The tune IS originally an old folk melody which Bob Dylan apparently 'covered' but did not release [though he is inaccurately given authorship credit for it] after learning it from several other folkie friends in 1962. However, the recording would not have been heard until its eventual release in the 'Bootleg tapes' decades later. Perhaps we don't need to speculate as to how Jack had picked it up, but as we've been discussing on these boards, Ang Lee and company have been fastidiously accurate with regard to every realistic detail in the film. I have to believe it was as thoroughly thought out.
OR it might be a secret inner detail to the film and a correspondence with the closing title cover of the song by Willie Nelson. I imagine that the Willie Nelson rendition along with the Rufus Wainwright "Maker Makes" would probably have been chosen even before shooting began [as much of Santolalla's score was composed before the start of shooting] enabling the music advisors to teach it to Jake Gyllenhaal.
Re: Cowboy's Lament - Ennis Happily Humming
by - houstonangel88 (Wed Feb 1 2006 08:25:21 )
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Casey, I did a search on " He was a friend of mine" and found this
http://bobdylan.com/songs/wasafriend.html On the bottom, it says "Copyright © 1962; renewed 1990 MCA "
So... I think this song probably was around since 1962 or earlier... if I am reading this correctly.
If so... I would have to say "WOW" to Ang Lee and the crews... unbelievable detail!!!
Re: Cowboy's Lament - Ennis Happily Humming
by - CaseyCornelius (Wed Feb 1 2006 08:48:10 )
UPDATED Wed Feb 1 2006 08:49:40
houstonangel88:
Some even more confusing details about the provenance of the song:
http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/HE1WASA.HTM Although there is an original copyright of 1962 I don't believe that a recorded version by Dylan would have been heard before the release of the 'Bootleg' tapes in the 1980s.
It really is a moot point as other web-sites state that "He Was a Friend of Mine" is a re-working of an original folk tune, the melody of which Jack could have known when the story begins in 1963, even if the words we hear in the closing credits would not have been the same.
Re: Cowboy's Lament - Ennis Happily Humming
by - The_Naked_Librarian (Thu Feb 2 2006 14:54:06 )
Both "He Was a Friend of Mine" and "Streets of Laredo" are folk songs old as the hills. Nevertheless, both were "in the air" in the early sixties thanks to recordings by popular country aritsts. Bobby Bare had a single with "He Was a Friend of Mine" in 1964. His version of the lyrics is as follows:
He was a friend of mine he was a friend of mine
He died without a penny he didn't have a dime he was a friend of mine
He died neath the midnight sun he died neath the midnight sun
His wanderin' days are over his loneliness is done
Yes he died neath the midnight sun
I have a lot of buddies in my time but he was the best buddy I ever had
The kind of friend you can lean on and turn to when times 're goin' bad
He could have been a rich man or maybe he could be the President
But he was just a friend of mine the one who had died without a cent
I soughed away and cried I soughed away and cried
Tears fell like raindrops the night my best friend died
He was a friend of mine he was a friend of mine
_____________________________________________________________
On the B side of that single was the song "When I'm Gone":
Will anybody know I've been here when I'm gone
Will anything that I've done here live on
Every man's allowed just so much time
And all you take along is what you leave behind
Will anybody know I've been here when I'm gone
When I'm gone when I'm gone
Oh will anybody know I've been here when I'm gone
Will anybody cry just a little bit when I'm gone
Will anybody cry just a little bit when I'm gone
Will the things I've tried so hopefully all turn to dust alongside of me
Will anybody know I've been here when I'm gone
When I'm gone when I'm gone
Oh will anybody know I've been here when I'm gone
Will anybody think about me when I'm gone
Will anybody ever remember me when I'm gone
Will they call me failure or success did I really live or just exist
Will anybody know I've been here when I'm gone
When I'm gone when I'm gone
Oh will anybody know I've been here when I'm gone
Will anybody know I've been here when I'm gone
__________________________________________________________
Eddy Arnold recorded "Streets of Laredo" in 1962. Here are the lyrics in his version:
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo
As I walked out in Laredo one day
I spied a poor cowboy wrapped in white linen
Wrapped in white linen, as cold as the clay.
I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy
These words he did say as I boldly stepped by
Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story
I was shot in the breast and I know I must die.
Oh, beat the drum slowly and play the pipe lowly
Play the dead march as you carry me along
Take me to the green valley there lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy I know I've done wrong.
Oh, fetch me a cup, a cup of cold water
To cool my hot lips the poor cowboy said
Before I returned the spirit had left him
And gone to its Maker the cowboy was dead.
We beat the drum slowly and play the pipe lowly
And bitterly wept as we bore him along
For we all loved our comrade so brave young and handsome
We all loved our comrade although he done wrong...
I don't want to read too much into any of this, but I doubt it's an accident that these songs are mournful ones about friendship and death.