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<p>"Streets of Laredo" (Laws B01, Roud 23650), also known as the "Cowboy's Lament", is a famous American cowboy ballad in which a dying cowboy tells his story to another cowboy. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.Derived from the English folk song "The Unfortunate Rake", the song has become a folk music standard, and as such has been performed, recorded and adapted numerous times, with many variations. The title refers to the city of Laredo, Texas.LyricsAs I walked out in the streets of LaredoAs I walked out in Laredo one day,I spied a poor cowboy, all wrapped in white linenAll 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 slowly passed by."Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story,For I'm shot in the chest, and today I must die.""'Oh once in the saddle I used to go dashing,'Oh once in the saddle I used to go gay.First down to Rosie's, and then to the card-house,Got shot through the body, and now here I lay.""Oh, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,And 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 and I know I've done wrong." "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,Roses to deaden the clods as they fall.""Then swing your rope slowly and rattle your spurs lowly,And give a wild whoop as you carry me along;And in the grave throw me and roll the sod o'er me.For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong.""Go bring me a cup, a cup of cold water.To cool my parched lips", the cowboy then said.Before I returned, his spirit had departed,And gone to the round up – the cowboy was dead.We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly,And bitterly wept as we bore him along.For we loved our comrade, so brave, young and handsome,We all loved our comrade, although he'd done wrong.The song is widely considered to be a traditional ballad. It was first published in 1910 in John Lomax's Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.The lyrics appear to be primarily descended from an Irish folk song of the late 18th century called "The Unfortunate Rake", which also evolved (with a time signature change and completely different melody) into the New Orleans standard "St. James Infirmary Blues". The Irish ballad shares a melody with the British sea-song "Spanish Ladies". The Bodleian Library, Oxford, has copies of a 19th-century broadside entitled "The Unfortunate Lad", which is a version of the British ballad. Some elements of this song closely presage those in the "Streets of Laredo" and in the "St. James Infirmary Blues". As I was a walking down by the “Lock”, As I was walking one morning of late, Who did I spy but my own dear comrade, Wrapp'd in flannel, so hard is his fate. Chorus. Had she but told me when she disordered me, Had she but told me of it at the time, I might have got salts and pills of white mercury, But now I'm cut down in the height of my prime. I boldly stepped up to him and kindly did ask him, Why he was wrapp'd in flannel so white? My body is injured and sadly disordered, All by a young woman, my own heart's delight. My father oft told me, and of times chided me, And said my wicked ways would never do, But I never minded him, nor ever heeded him, always kept up in my wicked ways. Get six jolly fellows to carry my coffin, And six pretty maidens to bear up my pall, And give to each of them bunches of roses, That they may not smell me as they go along. [Over my coffin put handsful of lavender, Handsful of lavender on every side, Bunches of roses all over my coffin, Saying there goes a young man cut down in his prime.] Muffle your drums, play your pipes merrily, Play the death march as you go along. And fire your guns right over my coffin, There goes an unfortunate lad to his home.</p>