That Took Place in 1949
But A Love Story That
Was Never Meant To Be
Photo of songwriter Greg Laumbach

The first part of November 2005 I received a surprise email from Greg Laumbach in New Mexico. As you can see from his photo above, Greg is a guitar player and singer. But not only does Greg sing country music, he is also a songwriter.

Greg was cleaning out a house in New Mexico when he came across an old 1949 Denver Post Newspaper. He scanned across the front page and this one paragraph jump out at him….. a story that took place nearly 800 miles away in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Greg was so overwhelmed by this sad love story in Ardmore, Oklahoma something just compelled him to sit down and put it to song. Below are the words he penned:

o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o”THE NOTE”
by Greg E. Laumbach
Rainville, New Mexico
11/11/05 (copyright protected)
A string band finished playing, “Ghost Riders in the Sky”,
The bright but mournful morning of the 8th day of July.
No one knew his sorrow until the deed was done,
And that day the grieving family buried their troubled son.
I read that it all happened in Nineteen Forty Nine,
A boy who felt the lovesick blues let his heart control his mind.
It’s only human nature and we all answer love’s call,
But some who are rejected just choose to end it all.
The rodeo had come to town for Independence Day,
He rode in from Lake Murray which was not far away,
The cowboy was in love with the Ardmore Roundup Queen,
But she’d found another sweetheart and would not acknowledge him.
He had wished that he could get her to be his very own,
But when that did not happen he walked his horse back home.
He stopped off at the ranch house then rode to the homestead,
And the shock was deep and painful when they learned that he was dead.
Everyone just wondered “What drove him to his death?”
They did not know the Roundup Queen just took away his breath.
And since he could not have her he sat down and he wrote,
To best express his feelings he placed them in “The Note”.
And it read:
“Someday, my darling, think of a bowlegged cowboy
just sitting there grinning and a-wishing for things he couldn’t have”
The casket was held open and everyone could see,
What a nineteen- year- old looks like who dies of misery.
He was dressed in cowboy clothes with the rifle by his chest,
Out near Ardmore, Oklahoma they laid the boy to rest.
The family stood around the grave they each felt all alone,
They each seemed to be wishing that he had made it home.
‘Cause it was just last Sunday and it was getting late,
They sensed that something happened when his horse came to the gate.
It was at some riding stables that the young couple first met,
And their feelings were so real there could be no regret.
We now know why it happened we all now understand,
How a broken heart got the best of a handsome Ardmore man.
o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

Greg has given me permission to place his song “The Note” on my website for all the world to listen to and lament about a love that went wrong. You should be able to just click on the link below and the song will play using Windows Media Player. But keep in mind this song is 5 1/2 minutes long and almost 1/2 meg (500k) in size, so it will take a few minutes to download if you are on a slow modem. DSL and broadband users should have no problem for a fast download. Also you can Right-Click on the link and download it (“Save Target As”) to a Folder on your computer for playing later.

Click here to play/download ——> ‘The Note’ by Greg Laumbach

The song is the property of songwriter Greg Laumbach so please contact him if you plan on anything other than your personal listening pleasure. You can contact Greg at:

Greg Laumbach
The Singing Professor
PO Box 27
Rainsville, NM 87736-0027
Phone: 505-387-2759

Email Greg Laumbach

A technical note: The original mp3 file of ‘The Note’ was amost 2 megs in size. I used a program call DietMP3 to reduce that file from 2 megs down to 500k (1/2 meg) without hardly any distortion of the sound quality to make for quicker downloading and to save space on my website.
DietMP3 Website



This webpage created November 28, 2005Last updated on November 30, 2005