tschram

In March of 2003, the United States launched an illegal war of aggression against Iraq. The US regime promoted that illegal war of aggression, starting well in advance, through the manufacture and repetition of falsehoods for the purpose of cultivating fear over non-existent threats, and loathing over non-existent connections between the Iraqi regime an the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.

There is something that has always bothered me about the first verse of the classic homesteading ballad, “Little Old Sod Shanty on the Claim.” I am looking rather seedy now while holding down my claim And my victuals are not always served the best And the mice play slyly ’round me as I lay me down to sleep In my little old sod shanty on the claim No, I’m not afraid of mice--what troubles me is the failure to rhyme. Prairie balladeers were insistent rhymers, and “claim” does not rhyme with “best.” For years I thought we are missing something; there must be an earlier text of the song that celebrates a “little old sod shanty in the West,” in order to rhyme with “best.” So now I find--thank God, because this has really bugged me over the years--there is such a text, in the National Tribune of 12 April 1883.