Tell Me a Story, Sing Me a Song

For many years William A. Owens was professor of English at Columbia University. Tell me a story, sing me a song is the third volume of his autobiographical writings, following This Stubborn Soil and A Season of Weathering.

• Acknowledgments 1. A Third Beginning 2. Anglo-American to Anglo-Texan 3. Ballad Linkings 4. Anglo-Saxon Samplings 5. Violence from the Scottish Border to the Mexican Border 6. With Love and Sorrow Mixed Among 7. And Laughter Unsubdued 8. Cowboy Laments 9. Play-Party Songs and Dances 10. Cajun French: Lappings Over from Louisiana 11. Texas-Mexican Songs 12. Texas-German Songs 13. Texas-Czech Songs 14. Texas-Italian Songs 15. Texas-Swedish Songs 16. Anglo-Texan Spirituals 17. Afro-American Spirituals 18. Afro-American Secular Songs 19. Coda Index

"The life of William Owens as he tells it appeals by its rugged qualities of mind and narrative prose. In the present instalment, two new sources of interest are added which I particularly value the life of the mingled populations of the southwest and their remarkable stories and songs. The book is a classic, like This Stubborn Soil, because it enshrines a time and place unsurpassably." Jacques Barzun