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Spanish Johnny
Mandolin player with a dark past from a 1912 poem by Willa Cather of the same title. Cather uses him as a secondary character in her 1915 novel The Song of the Lark, about Thea Kronborg.
Willa Cather 1912 Poem
The old West, the old time,
The old wind singing through
The red, red grass a thousand miles —
And Spanish Johnny, you!
He'd sit beside the water ditch
When all his herd was in,
And never mind a child, but sing
To his mandolin.
The big stars, the blue night,
The moon-enchanted lane;
The olive man who never spoke,
But sang the songs of Spain.
His speech with men was wicked talk —
To hear it was a sin;
But those were golden things he said
To his mandolin.
The gold songs, the gold stars,
The world so golden then;
And the hand so tender to a child —
Had killed so many men.
He died a hard death long ago
Before the Road came in —
The night before he swung, he sang
To his mandolin.
The Song of the Lark 1915 version
C. E. Scoggins 1934 version
C. E. Scoggins of Boulder, Colorado composed a melody for the poem, which was recorded by by American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, who included it in his 1934 collection American Ballads and Folk Songs.
Elmo Russ 1940 version
Elmo Russ published a version of the song with a different melody in 1940.
David Bromberg 1978 version
The singer David Bromberg sang the Scoggins version of the song on his 1978 album My Own House.
Bromberg learned the song from singer/songwriter Paul Siebel, who never recorded it. Siebel got it from American Ballads and Folk Songs.
Those other years, those dusty years
When we drove the big hearse through
I tried to forget the miles we rode
and Spanish Johnny, you!
He'd sit beside a water ditch
When all his herd was in
He'd never harm a child
But sing to his mandolin
He sang the old songs, the old talk
And the dealin' of our games
Spanish Johnny seldom spoke
But sang songs of Spain
