Additional lyrics so far for TEDDY ROOSEVELT SLEPT HERE (c) Jim Terr

back to main page

 

LAS VEGAS – “TEDDY ROOSEVELT…” INTRO (TRS)
    Jim Terr © 2017

(trolley sound)  (train sound…)

TEDDY:   Las Vegas, 1898. The grandest town in the southwest. This is long before the name “Las Vegas” came to be associated with gaming tables. There was plenty of gambling, though, and plenty of desperate men willing to shoot each other when things didn’t go their way – and they often did. In fact several historians have written about the extraordinary level of violence – and hangings – in Vegas in the 1880s. Far beyond those of Deadwood, Tombstone, Dodge City, Kansas, and the towns more famous for violence in the popular western literature.

But let’s look at the lighter side. Its local college was considered the Harvard of the Southwest, it was a haven for Opera, with a mighty opera house, theater, churches, a considerable synagogue, an electric trolley car system, telephone service,  a tremendous roundhouse for servicing the many locomotives that came though. Fraternal organizations and sanitaria of all sorts, and the first million dollar hotel in the west, built at the beautiful hot springs near town.  Presidents and dignitaries visited there, and slept there.

This was before it became a capital for filming western movies, because of course movies had barely been invented then.

Fly-fishing in the mountain streams, riding and hunting in the mountains, and a grand system of cutting and conveying huge blocks of ice from those cold mountains to the railroad system that came through, to cool the passengers and the hotels along the rail line, including a couple of grand hotels in the town itself.

I’m speaking of course of Las Vegas, New Mexico.  Yes, New Mexico… no, no, that other one was no more than a tiny watering hole in the Nevada desert at the time, unknown to most of America. 

Las Vegas New Mexico was one of the grandest – and rowdiest towns – in the southwest.  The cattle ranching trade was in decline at the time, due to a change in which railroads took beef to market, and that made Las Vegas a perfect place for me to recruit the exceptionally tough, rough-riding cowboys I needed for a little expedition to Cuba.

Yes, Cuba. The Spanish had it under their thumb in 1898 and I wasn’t going to stand for it, as Naval Secretary of the United States – at the time. If it was going to take a little war to kick them out, so be it. Plus a little war is a grand adventure, in my book. My whole life was, and would continue to be, a grand adventure. This was one of the most interesting chapters. I hope you enjoy it.


 

TEDDY ROOSEVELT SLEPT HERE (Theme) (TRS)
Jim Terr ©2017

I came here to recruit cuz it’s the roughest town in the West.
Meanest out-of-work cowboys who can ride and shoot the best.
Gonna make a name for myself and earn my battle star,
Down there in Havana, which isn’t all that far.

I’ll call us the Range Rovers… make that Rough Riders on second thought.
History will tell we won every battle that we fought.
And a hundred years from now some local booster or sloganeer
Will bring in tourists by saying “Teddy Roosevelt, Slept Here.”

(CHORUS)
Yes I put my pants on just like every man who comes your way.
But unlike them I read maybe two or three books a day.
And at the end of that day I rest my weary head for a very short while.
So just say “Teddy slept here” – that never goes out of style.

(Group repeat, while modulating key up):
“Teddy Roosevelt, Slept Here!”
“Teddy Roosevelt, Slept Here!”
“Teddy Roosevelt, Slept Herrrrree…” -

So if I can lend a little shine to this bustling (raucous? Wild?) little town,
In case things ever get sleepy here, if the tourist trade slows down,
Just tell the world that I, a household name by then most surely,
Was here with cowboys Clinton, Jethro, Leftie, Jack and Curly. (they each say, in vid.)

CHORUS TWO:
Yes I put my pants on just like every man who comes your way.
But unlike them I read at least two or three good books a day.
And when night time falls I rest my weary head for a very short while.
So say “Teddy Roosevelt slept here” – that never goes out of style.

“Teddy Roosevelt Slept…” (close-up on Teddy, falling into dreams..)



MAN OF ACTION (TRS)
   Jim Terr © 2017

I grew up red and scrawny, as you’ve probably heard by now.
Gasping for breath, on the edge of death, allergic to grass and cow.
Survived by determination, no more and, friends, no less.
Said if I’m gonna live at all, I might as well be the best.

(“He might as well be the best”)**

Some men who got a better start lie under the apple tree,
Enjoying the summer sunshine. No that would not be me.
I lifted bales and ran for miles to strengthen my modest frame.
A man of iron is the only man who’s worthy of the name.
(“He’s worthy of the name! … Man! … Of Iron!”)

So when I die leave me by the road, or toss me in the sea.
Where I lie when it comes my time, it matters not to me.
But while I live no nag I’ll ride, put me on a mighty steed.
For I am a man of action, yes I am a man of deed.
         (“Yes he’s a man of deed”)

Yes give me battles to be won, and rivers to be tamed.
There’s plenty of time for rest when I have lain down in my grave.
Battles bold and glorious, with peril all around.
That is where I wish to stand til you lay me in the ground.
(Group chorus):

“So when he dies we’ll say goodbye to our beloved Teddy Bear.
With backbone straight and legacy great as he lies so peaceful there.
He scarcely spent a moment, in anything but the lead.
For he was a man of action, a man of forceful deed.”
       (“yes indeed a man of deed”)

  Teddy, wistfully / wearily:  “Yes, a man of.. but you know,
of course I do need to rest every now and…”
(falls asleep, dreams) (song about taking it easy..)

**This is a sort of “Gilbert and Sullivan”–type men’s chorus that comes in occasionally

 

NO NEED TO SAY “GOOD MORNING” (TRS)       Jim Terr © 2017

(setup:  Teddy and the Roughriders are camping out at Lincoln Park, a beautiful spot in Las Vegas NM surrounded by some of the best “Railroad” homes. First verse or two is sung by a wealthy robber baron-type local citizen, walking along with his little Chow-Chow and singing to himself about how he doesn’t have to say hello to ragamuffins. Later, Teddy turns the tables on him):


As I venture out this morning, this fine September day.
I celebrate my freedom to proceed along my way
In solitude, except as I may wish to greet a man.
And then, only such a one as has some silk gloves in his hands.

        (someone passes and says “Good day, sir”, and he snorts)

I clawed my way up to the top of fine society,
And peer from there at the world below, my wife, my Chow and me. 
Whate’er I wish at my command, a gentle peace inside.
Secure in God’s great wish that my good fortune I’ll abide.

     (someone passes and says “Good morning”, and he barely, resentfully, nods)
I shall not stoop to any man, though etiquette dictate
That I should bid “Good morning” or “Good day’ at any rate.
Most all do call me master, sure none do call me slave,
And I will have no senseless talk like “Good morning” and “Good day.”


(Toward him on the sidewalk comes Teddy Roosevelt, accompanied by several men including the two men he previously ignored, who seem to indicate this to Roosevelt. He almost obsequiously says “Good morning, General Roosevelt. A fine good day, is it not?” Roosevelt ignores him, and sings to his guys):


I too think I’ve attained a height by adventures brave and grand.
I’ve camped out in the dirt and shared poor food with all my men.
I’ve wrestled them there on the ground with no shirt on my chest
And gracefully surrendered when they got of me the best.

So I have no use for grandees better than their fellow man.
Only in matters (in cause)of highest state would  I shake their tender hand.
A throne imagined above the rest is vanity quite depraved.
So with extra special pleasure I decline to say “Good day.” 
             (his men laugh and sing):
“He’s not too grand to be our man and he declines to say GOOD DAY.” (laugh more)

 

 

 

IT KILLS ME TO KILL A SPIDER (TRS)
   Jim Terr © 2017

I can send great fleets to conquer worlds across the sea.
If a thousand men are drowned thereby it matters not to me.
I’ll charge up hills with rapier raised to run some rascals through
With gushing  blood to add some pink to the lovely morning dew.

But few men know my softer side, that wishes tiny lambs
And  kittens and puppies to quiver gently in my calloused hands.
With my children all around me, learning of tender touch.
Deep in my heart I know that nothing matters quite as much.


Yes, I can send a mighty rocket arcing through the air
To utterly destroy what heathen soldiers may be there.
But still I have a tender heart with some tender things inside her.  
And though sometimes it be needed, still, it kills me to kill a spider.


A tender soul  has no place on the bloody battlefield
Where all that counts is the hundreds or the thousands to be killed.
A weak commander I would be if I had the least concern
For the agony and death I caused for those I wound and burn.


Yes, I can launch a mighty rocket racing through the air
To utterly destroy what heathen soldiers may be there.
But I too have a tender heart with some tender moods inside her.  
Though sometimes it be needed, still, it kills me to kill a spider.

(NOTE: I may have to reconsider this song or re-frame it, since Teddy didn't really mind killing spiders or any other animal, thousands of which he mounted and/or stuffed)



 


THE IMMIGRANT SONG –TRS - dt
Jim Terr © 2017  (in “Johnny Horton through History” style)

Well they burned our homes and wagons,
And our kids if you must know.
And they said if you have had enough,
Well you are free to go. (Now…?)

They were glad when we departed,
All we had under our arms,
Then they took our cows and chickens,
From our tiny little farms.

CHORUS:
We arrived here in America
And we made this country great.
And now that it is perfect,
Immigrants please go away.
Yes please just go away.

Yes they called us scum and vermin,
Kept us down when we got here.
Tried to make sure we were squirmin
But we overcame our fear.

CHORUS AGAIN.

 

Jim Terr songwriter reviews


"Unique, talented, one-of-a-kind." -Tom T. Hall

"Jim Terr is a very talented singer/writer and I hope you enjoy his songs as much as I do." 
        - Bobby Braddock (writer of some of the most popular songs in the history of country music, such as "He Stopped Loving Her Today," "Golden Ring," "Something to Brag About,"D-I-V-O-R-C-E", "We're Not the Jet Set," "Old Flames Have New Names", "Let's Talk About Me", many others.

"A prolific creator of original wit and music, with a dedicated following on the internet, his discovery is still shamefully overlooked by the entertainment industry." 
-Tony Byworth, UK journalist and author, co-editor of
   the BILLBOARD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COUNTRY MUSIC.

…[Jim Terr has been] described as a modern day Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Jimmie Rodgers and Jackie Mason rolled into one. Can I add to that list names like Shel Silverstein, Tom T. Hall, Bobby Bare, Ray Stevens and the likes-- master wordsmiths all, and country boys too…
     -Brian Ahern, Country Music & More (UK) 

     "Bodacious" -Dave Barry

"Wise, witty and whimsical (and sometimes sad)" -Tony Hillerman

"Some of the most thoroughly enjoyable tunes I've ever heard...tiny monuments to songwriting...For whatever elements came together to make the genius of Jim Terr and his music happen, we should be truly gleeful, grateful and gratified….”  “He shares equal territory with the folksy politicism of Phil Ochs, the sheer songwriting skill of Townes van Zandt, and the shamelessly naive sense of ironic humor of Loudon Wainwright III." 
       -Bill Hutchison, Santa Fe Reporter  and Anthologist’s Cabinet

Jim Marshall, British Country Music Bulletin:
    An entertaining, description-defying collection... If one were to invite comparisons, you'd perhaps liken Jim Terr to Tom T. Hall, or, perhaps Paul Craft.

"A highly creative, satirical Outlander and asskicking comedian without parallel; an excellent writer...reminds me of Calvin Trillin…     
-Mike Malloy

"Jim Terr's spirit shows through consistently in his songs... It's the droll, sardonic, 'cut-the-B.S.' outlook known around the world as American."  -James Fallows  

"Jim Terr’s creativity and versatility are unmatched.  Well, almost unmatched."
     -Hodding Carter III 

"One of the true creative geniuses of our time. .This guy does some of the best satire in the business. One of the great comedic and auditory geniuses of our day."   
                   —Thom Hartmann