I have decided that my new Happy Birthday song, the kind of song that I can sing and play at children's birthday parties (you over-10 set are really bitter, did you know that?), will be to the tune of an American cowboy lament in 3/4 time called "The Streets of Laredo." The song is in the public domain, and the tune is simultaneously mournful and perky. Here are the first two verses of the traditional lyrics:
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo,
As I walked out in Laredo one day,
I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen.
All wrapped in white linen and 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 here beside me and hear my sad story,
For I'm shot in the heart and I surely will die."
I think this song is just begging for a makeover as a birthday commemoration. I'm not happy with what I have so far, but it would be great to have something by Saturday. I'm going to a birthday party, and I'm bringing my guitar.
