schmedley --
The song your wife remembers is called "There's A Man That Comes To
Our House Every Single Day," which was recorded by the Prairie
Ramblers on a 78rpm disk in the 1930s and was also recorded by Patsy
Montana with that group in 1937.
Those recordings were eventually produced in an LP or a CD collection,
which are considered to be hard-to-get collectors' items. I have
found one CD compilation of Prairie Ramblers songs -- including the
song you are seeking -- that was produced by the British Archive of
Country Music ("BACM") and is available for purchase from that archive
and at least one on-line source in the U.S.
That BACM compilation is called "The Prairie Ramblers -- The Oregon
Trail" and is catalogued by BACM as "CD D 048". Here is a link to a
U.S. source for this CD, which is offering it online for $13.98:
Roots & Rhythm: Country, Blues and Old-Timey
http://www.rootsandrhythm.com/roots/NEWSLETTER%20130/newsletter130_country.htm
Just scroll to about halfway down the linked page to the listing for
the CD and click on the "Order Now" button. Some information about
the seller -- Roots & Rhythm -- can be found at this linked page:
About Roots & Rhythm
http://www.rootsandrhythm.com/roots/rr_aboutrr.htm
You can also order a copy of "The Prairie Ramblers -- The Oregon
Trail" by mail for $16 (including shipping) directly from the British
Archive of Country Music. Here is a link to the catalog page that
contains the CD (just click on the link to CD D 048 to see a a listing
of the songs on the CD):
British Archives of Country Music: CD Catalogue
http://bacm.users.btopenworld.com/CD-cat.html
Here is a link to contact information for the BACM, if you wish to
contact them by phone, fax or e-mail before ordering:
British Archive of Country Music
http://bacm.users.btopenworld.com/
The Patsy Montana version was released on LP by Columbia Records in
1984 as part of its "Historic Edition" series. Aficionados of early
country music recommend this album, buy unfortunately it is long out
of print, has not been reissued on CD and is apparently very hard to
find: Here is a link to one description of that album:
Dumboozle: Western Swing (after 7/8 down the page)
http://www.beta.webyoda.com/dumboozle/western/westdex.html
Addition Information:
The Prairie Ramblers originally recorded "off-color" songs such as
"There's A Man That Comes To Our House Every Single Day," on 78 rpm
disks under the pseudonym "The Sweet Violet Boys." Here is a link to
a site offering the original Vocalion 78rpm recording for sale "to the
highest bidder:"
Antique Edison: Vintage Records (first listing)
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/antqedison/record.htm
The song you are seeking is sometimes cited with a longer (and even
more catchy) title: "There's A Man That Comes To Our House Every
Single Day (Poppa Comes Home And The Man Goes Away)." Here's a link
to an interesting biography of The Prairie Ramblers that contains that
humorous bit of information:
Iceberg.com: Prairie Ramblers
http://www.theiceberg.com/artist/26841/prairie_ramblers.html
As a last resort (I am confident that you won't need to pursue it),
here is a link to a German site that also offers the BACM CD for sale.
Contact information is also contained on this page:
Bear Family: Mail Order: Prairie Ramblers: The Oregon Trail
http://www.bear-family.de/mailorder/showoneproduct.html?lang=&p=CD+D+048&PHPSESSID=242e8089ec37c61e5641e6dbb4cd3806#review
Search Strategy:
I relied exclusively on Google searches to find the song title and
artist and (the hardest part) finding a recording of it that is
available for sale.
Here is a sampling of the succession of searches that ultimately
provided the information you are seeking and convinced me that sheet
music or lyrics to the song are not available online:
"comes to our house" every day away lyrics
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22comes+to+our+house%22+every+day+away+lyrics
"patsy montana and OR & "the prairie ramblers"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22patsy+montana+and+OR+%26+the+prairie+ramblers%22
"prairie ramblers" "oregon trail"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22prairie+ramblers%22+%22oregon+trail%22
"prairie ramblers" "our house" cd
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22prairie+ramblers%22+%22our+house%22+cd
"prairie ramblers" "our house"
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22prairie+ramblers%22+%22our+house%22
"sweet violet boys" "our house"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22sweet+violet+boys%22+%22our+house%22
I also searched at the All Music Guide site, which was unsuccessful
because that otherwise useful site does not have comprehensive track
listings for LPs and does not list privately released compilations
such as the BACM edition of Prairie Ramblers music:
All Music Guide
http://www.allmusic.com/
I am confident that I have given you information that will enable you
to obtain a CD copy of The Prairie Ramblers' rendition of "There's A
Man That Comes To Our House Every Day" conveniently and at a
reasonable price. I am sorry that the sheet music is not available,
but given the age and obscurity of the song that is not surprising.
However, after your wife listens to the track a few times, I suspect
that she will have no difficulty relearning the lyrics.
If any of the above is unclear, please ask for clarification of this
answer, and I would be happy to assist you further.
markj-ga |
