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[Introduction - A Cowboy's Prayer:]
Lord, I've never lived where churches grow I loved creation better As it stood That day you finished it so long ago And looked upon your work and Called it good I know that others find you in the light That sifted down through Tinted window panes And yet I seem to feel you near tonight In this dim, quiet Starlight on the plains I thank you, Lord, that I'm placed so well That you've Made my freedom so complete That I'm no slave to whistle, clock or bell Nor weak Eyed prisoner of Waller Street Just let me live my life as I've begun And give Me work that's open to the sky Make me a partner of the wind and sun And I won't Ask a life that's soft or high Let me be easy on the man that's down Let me be Square and generous with all I'm careless sometimes, Lord, when I'm in town But Never let them say I'm mean or small Make me as big and open as the plains And Honest as the horse between my knees Clean as a wind that blows behind the rains Free as the hawk that circles down the breeze Forgive me, Lord, if sometimes I Forget You know about the reasons that are hid You understand the things that Gall or fret Well, you knew me better than my mother did Just keep an eye on all That's done or said And right me Sometimes when I turn aside And guide me on that long, dim trail ahead That Stretched upward toward the great divide Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie These words came low and mournfully From the Pallid lips of a youth who lay On his dying bed at the close of day Oh, bury me not and his voice failed there But we took no heed to his dying Prayer In a shallow grave just six by three We buried him there on the lone Prairie. |
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The devil in hell we're told was chained a thousand years he there remained
He neither complain nor did he groan but was determined to start a hell of his own Where he could torment the souls of men without being chained in a prison pen So he asked the Lord if he had on hand anything left when he made this land The Lord said yes there's a plenty of hand but if I left it down by the Rio Grande The fact is ol' boy the stuff is so poor I don't think you could use it as the hell anymore But the devil went down to look at the truck And said if he took it as a gift he was stuck For after lookin' that over carefully and well he said this place is too dry for hell But in order to get it off his hand the Lord promised the devil to water the land So trade was closed and deed was given and the Lord went back to his home in heaven And the devil said now I got all what's needed to make it good hell and he succeeded He began by putting thorns all over the trees He mixed up the sand with millions of fleas He scattered tarantulas along the road put thorns on cactus and horns on toad Lengthened the horns of the Texas steer put an addition to the rabbits ear Put a little devil in the bronco steed and poisoned the feet of the centipede The rattlesnake bites you the scorpion stings The mosquito delights you with his buzzing wings The sunburst are there and so the ants And if you sit down you'll need have soles on your pants The wild boar rooms on a black chaparral it's a hell of a place that he has for hell The heat in the summers are hundred and ten too hot for the devil too hot for men The red pepper grows upon the banks of the brook The Mexican use it in all that he cook Just dine it with one of 'em and you're bound to shout I've hell on the inside as well as it out My hands are calloused July to July I use a Big Dipper to navigate by Fight off the wolves to drink from my well so I have to be mean as hell A sheep herder came and put up the fence I saw him one day but I ain't seen him since But if you're needin' mutton we've got mutton to sell We're cowpunchers and we're mean as hell Neither me nor my pony's got a pedigree but he takes me where I'm wantin' to be I'll ride him to death and when he is fell I'll get me another one mean as hell I shot me a calf and I cut off her head Cause the boys in the bunkhouse are waitin' to be fed They rise in chime with the five thirty bell And the best one of any of 'em is mean as hell |
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Well, my name, it is Sam Hall, Sam Hall.
Yes, my name, it is Sam Hall, it is Sam Hall. My name it is Sam Hall, and I hate you, one and all. And I hate you, one and all : Damn your eyes! I killed a man, they said, so they said. I killed a man, they said, so they said. I killed a man, they said, and I smashed in his head. And I left him layin' dead, Damn his eyes! But a-swingin' I must go, I must go. A-swingin' I must go, I must go. A-swingin' I must go while you critters down below Yell up "Sam, I told you so", Well, damn your eyes! I saw Molly in the crowd, in the crowd. I saw Molly in the crowd, in the crowd. I saw Molly in the crowd, and I hollered, right out loud: "Hey there, Molly, ain't you proud? Damn your eyes!" Then the Sherriff, he came, too, he came, too. Ah, yeah, the Sherriff, he came, too, he came, too. The Sherriff, he came, too, and he said "Sam, how are you?" And I said, "Well, Sherriff, how are you? Damn your eyes!" My name is Samuel, Samuel. My name is Samuel, Samuel. My name is Samuel, and I'll see you all in hell! An' I'll see you all in hell, Damn your eyes! |
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Well they're building a gallows outside my cell I've got 25 minutes to go
And the whole town's waitin' just to hear me yell I've got 24 minutes to go Well they gave me some beans for my last meal I've got 23 minutes to go But nobody asked me how I feel I've got 22 minutes to go Well I sent for the governor and the whole dern bunch with 21 minutes to go And I sent for the mayor but he's out to lunch I've got 20 more minutes to go Then the sheriff said boy I gonna watch you die got 19 minutes to go So I laughed in his face and I spit in his eye got 18 minutes to go Now hear comes the preacher for to save my soul with 13 minutes to go And he's talking bout' burnin' but I'm so cold I've 12 more minutes to go Now they're testin' the trap and it chills my spine 11 more minutes to go And the trap and the rope aw they work just fine got 10 more minutes to go Well I'm waitin' on the pardon that'll set me free with 9 more minutes to go But this is for real so forget about me got 8 more minutes to go With my feet on the trap and my head on the noose got 5 more minutes to go Won't somebody come and cut me loose with 4 more minutes to go I can see the mountains I can see the skies with 3 more minutes to go And it's to dern pretty for a man that don't wanna die 2 more minutes to go I can see the buzzards I can hear the crows 1 more minute to go And now I'm swingin' and here I go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o! |
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Green grow the lilacs all sparkling with dew
Green grow the lilacs when winter is thru Each time I see lilacs my heart breaks in two Cause springtime is here and its here without you As sure as the bluebirds that fly up above Springtime is sad without someone to love Yes springtime is sad and it troubles my mind In a world full of women, not one girl is mine Green grow the lilacs all sparkling with dew Green grow the lilacs when winter is thru Each time I see lilacs my heart breaks in two Cause springtime is here and its here without you They say that its best to forget what we had Then it is to remember and always be said But still I keep wondering each now and then If ever Ill see you and kiss you again Green grow the lilacs all sparkling with dew Green grow the lilacs when winter is thru Each time I see lilacs my heart breaks in two Cause springtime is here and its here without you |
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We made camp along Red River
Watched the cattle as they bedded down Back at the wagons, right after supper We spread our bedrolls on the ground And me and Willie, we took the night guard And the sage never smelled so sweet The prairie moon, was blazin' silver No chance tonight for a stampede Way over yonder, off in the distance Towards the mountains there in the west Did I see lightnin', did I hear thunder My mind is weary, I could use some rest Then all at once, the wind shifts directions The clouds roll in behind the tumbleweeds These longhorn cattle, are gettin' restless God help us all, if they stampede Smell the rain, hear the thunder The midnight sky, turns black as death The lightnin' crashes, smell the sulphur It's rank and strong, it's Satan's breath The cattle rise up, and go to runnin' I spur my pony on and take the lead And across the herd, I can hear Willie yellin' Hey Stampede! Dust clouds rise, as the rain falls They mix together, turn the air to mud I feel the longhorns brush against me And I can feel the demons racin' through my blood Then all at once, my pony stumbles We hit the ground, I rise up to my knees In a flash of light, I can see the cattle comin' Lord I know I'm gonna die in this stampede Then I awake, and I look around me I'm in my bedroll and I'm layin' on the ground Over there's the wagon, and there's the campfire I was only dreamin', but what's that sound? Then I feel the earth tremble underneath me As the midnight sky begins to bleed And from the blackness I can hear Willie yellin' Hey Stampede |
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Never in this world before or nevermore hereafter
Could a land know such a people as the pioneer the cowboy His clothes his conversation his unique brand of lingo All his devil deeds of daring his hat his bandana the dirty boots and ragged chaps But mainly that sixgun dangling so's his hand could get it quickly But draw your own conclusions lean to your own understandings Your beliefs and your convictions Disprove any fact recorded in these sounds and songs and legends But I ask you if you do be sure you've walked in many mocassins Over many many pathways and that you have listened carefully Really listened to the west wind and to everything it whispers And then go back and listen listen to this once more to these legends and traditions They're only one reflection of a tick of time of that time Just ponder on the things that happened As we gaze so very deeply in the time and place and persons Seeing now and then the West as it really was And to tell you of a little that we saw there And looking backward through a century There was the True West there was the Real True West Not demanding an argument but rather hoping you looked with us And saw it as we saw it And heard that west wind screaming shouting almost speaking Always whispering of these things we sang and spoke of And you'll hear perhaps the things the we said in the stories And the legends and traditions Through the wind that breeze these tales of the ones who never made it Yet fighting heat and mountains plains and valleys snow and hunger They went westward westward westward |
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