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Timothy C. Takach
Graphite Publishing
The Streets of Laredo
A simple but beautiful telling of this famous folk song.
Unison voices, TBB, piano
In this beautiful arrangement of the American Folk Song, Takach keeps the keeps the melody line in unison throughout the whole piece. Three lines of men’s voices at first provide harmonic support, then unfold into a lush a cappella section. The piano writing is simple yet beautiful, providing the right amount of harmony and character. This is a very flexible piece for use with a children’s, community, or festival choir. Perfect for pairing younger singers with a more skilled ensemble.
Note: This piece can also be done as TTBB, with the T2 section singing the unison voices line throughout.
Text
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo,
As I walked out in Laredo one day,
I spied a poor cowboy wrapped up in white linen,
Wrapped up 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.
“Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin;
Get six pretty maidens to bear up my pall.
Put bunches of roses all over my coffin,
Put roses to deaden the clods as they fall.
“Go bring me a cup, a cup of cold water,
To cool my parched lips,” the cowboy said;
Before I turned, the spirit had left him
And gone to its Giver, — the cowboy was dead.
We beat the drum slowly and played the fife 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’d done wrong.
– Anonymous
$2.15 per licensed PDF
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