Tom Lehrer said the problem with folk music is that it's written by the people. Ah, yes, and collected by people with PhDs. Professor Lomax collected these in 1910. Choose the correct word to fill in the blank in these immortal cowboy songs. We bet you can.

1. 'Bury me not on the lone prairie,
   
   Where the coyotes will howl over me.
   
   In a narrow grave ____________'
   
   • where the wind blows free
   • in Tennessee
   • just six by three
   • on the Yamassee
2. ''Tis a bummer, too, they call me now¹,
   
   But what cares I for praise?
   
   It's oft, says I, for the days gone by,
   
   It's oft do I repine
   
   For the days of old when we dug out the gold
   
   In the days of _____________'
   
   • auld lang syne
   • forty-nine
   • bright sunshine
   • bread and wine
3. 'Jesse James was a lad that killed a-many a man;
   
   He robbed the Danville ______.
   
   But that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard
   
   Has laid poor Jesse in his grave.'
   
   • stage
   • brave
   • knave
   • train
4. 'Home, home on the range,
   
   Where the deer and the antelope play,
   
   Where _________ is heard a discouraging word,
   
   And the skies are not cloudy all day.'
   
   • seldom
   • rarely
   • never
   • often
5. 'Oh, a ten-dollar hoss and a forty-dollar saddle,
   
   And I'm goin' to punchin' Texas _____.'
   
   • rattle
   • fiddle-faddle
   • cattle
   • panhandle
6. 'The antelope and buffalo.
   
   The rabbit jumps so high;
   
   It's whack the cattle on, boys,
   
   ______ or die.'
   
   • Make Santa Fe
   • Root hog
   • Sing the song
   • Vote Democrat
7. 'As I walked out in the streets of ______,
   
   As I walked out in _____ one day,
   
   I spied a poor cowboy wrapped up in white linen,
   
   Wrapped up in white linen as cold as the clay.'
   
   • Bakersfield
   • El Paso
   • Topeka
   • Laredo
8. 'Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little _______,
   
   It's your misfortune, and none of my own.'
   
   • cattle
   • kitties
   • dogies
   • doggies
9. 'I am one of a band of highwaymen, Cole Younger² is my name;
   
   My crimes and _____________ have brought my friends to shame.'
   
   • misdemeanors
   • lawless exploits
   • depredations
   • low-down cussedness
10. 'Kind friends, you must pity my horrible tale,
    
    I am an object of pity, I am looking quite stale,
    
    I gave up my trade ____________________
    
    To go hunting gold in the dreary Black Hills.'
    
    • working the gin in the mill
    • tending sheep on the rill
    • selling Right's Patent Pills
    • fishing deep in the kill

Click the cowboy for answers.

Click for answers.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

29.04.19 Front Page

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