Digital Tradition Mirror

A Sun Valley Song

A Sun Valley Song

When I was a-skiing the hills of Sun Valley,
As I was a-skiing old Baldy one day,
I spied a young skier all wrapped in Alpaca
All wrapped in alpaca, and cold as der Schnee(1).

I see by your suntan that you are a skier,
These words he did say as I boldly schussed(2) by;
Come fall down beside me and hear my sad story,
I caught a right edge(3) and I'm dying today.

It was once upon Baldy I used to ski gaily,
It was once upon Baldy I used to ski by;
It was first down the canyon, and then through the narrows,
I caught a right edge and I know I must die.

Get six from the ski school to carry my coffin,
Get six little bunnies(4) to sing me a song;
Oh lower me gently and sprinkle Schnee o'er me,
For I was a skier, my life was not long.

(1) der Schnee - snow, in German.
(2) schussed - pointing the skis down and letting them
ride the snow.
(3)right edge - when turning at high speed, catching
an edge In the snow makes one ski stop suddenly
while the other keeps moving, resulting in a grand
version of the splits.
(4)bunnies - novice skiers who, as a result of fre-
quent spills, are always covered with snow and
look like rabbits.

(Sung by Jan Brunvand)
Here we have a skier's parody of "The Cowboy's Lament".  The locale is
"the hills of Sun Valley" and "Old Baldy", and the unfortunate skier meets
his doom with his skis on.

The following text was turned into the Indiana University  Folklore
Archives by a student who learned it from a roommate at the University of
Denver in 1950.
DT #350
Laws B1
AJS
oct99

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

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