Page 50
BALLAD OF SPIDER JOHN
Am C
Spider John is my name friends
D Am
I'm in between freight and I sure would be oliged
C G
If I could share your company.
Am C
I'm on my way to nowhere
D C
I've been running from my past
Am C G
Running from the things that I used to be
Am C
Now I know my words sound strange to you
D Am
But if you wait till my song is sung and my story told,
C G
You might come to understand,
Am C
Why I'm old and bent and Devil spent
D G
And running out of time;
Am C D
When not long ago I held a royal flush in my hand.
CHORUS
Em Am
Well, I was a supermarket fool, I was a motorbank stool
Em Am
pigeon, Even robbin' my own time,
Em Am
I thought I'd lost my blues, Yes I thought I'd paid my dues,
C D Em
And I thought I'd found a life to suit my style.
G(prog.) Am C (prog.)
and I was Spider John, the robberman, long tall,
Em
and handsome,
G (.prog) C(prog.) Em
Yes, I was Spider John with the loaded hand, taking randsom.
Then one day, I met Diamond Lily
She was the sweetest thing the summer winds had ever blown my way.
Lily, she had no idea of my illustrious occupation.
She thought I was a saint, not a sinner gone astray.
Spider, he loved his lady, so much, he could not
confess his sins, for he knew if he did, the
lady would surely take her leave
But you know the word got around, and Lily left town.
And he never saw her again, tossing and turning,
causing his host to grieve.
CHORUS
And that is all my story
It's been at least thirty years since I took to the road
to find my precious bejewled one.
And if you see my Lily, give her my regards
Tell her ole Spider got tangled in the black web that he spun.
Tell her ole Spider got tangled in the black web that he spun.
Page 51
BUFFALO SKINNERS
Dm C
Well, I found myself in Griffin in the Spring of '23
Dm G
When a well-known, famous drover came a'walkin' up to me.
Dm
He said, "How ya doin' young feller"
C Dm
And how would you like to go and spend the summer pleasant
A
on the range of the buffalo."
Well, me being out of work right then, to the drover I did say
"This goin' out there on the buffalo range depends on what
you pay; and if you pay good wages, transportation
to and fro, I think I might go with you to the
range of the buffalo."
He said , "Course I pay good wages-pay your transportation too.
If you'll agree to work for me until the season's through,
But, if you get weary and you try to run away
You'll starve to death along the trail and you'll also
loose your way."
The trip was a pleasant one as we hit the westward trail.
And crossed the old Baggey Creek down into Old New Mexico.
There our pleasures ended and our trouble all began,
A lightening storm hit us and it made the cattle run.
Got all full of stickers from the cactus that did grow
And outlaws waitin' to pick us off in the hills of the Rayado.
Well, the workin' season ended and that drover would not pay.
He said, "You all have drunk too much, and you're all in
debt to me."
But we bein' mountain men as we were, we didn't believe in
bankrupt law.
So we left that driver's bones to bleach on the range of
the buffalo.
Page 52
GHOST RIDERS
Em G
An old cowpoke went riding out, one hot and windy day,
Em G B7
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way,
Em
When all at once a mighty herd of red-eyed cows he saw,
C Em
A-plowin' through the ragged skies and up the cloudy draw.
CHORUS
Em G Em
yip-i-ya-a, Yip-i-ya-o,
C Em
Ghost Riders in the sky.
Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were
made of steel.
Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath
he could feel.
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered
through the sky.
For as he saw the riders coming hard he could hear their
mournfull cry.
CHORUS
Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their
shirts all soaked with sweat,
They're riddin' hard to catch the herd, but they ain't
caught them yet.
They've got to ride for-evermore on that range up in the sky.
On horses snorting fire, as they ride, I hear them cry.
CHORUS
And as the riders loped on by, he heard them call his name,
If you want to save your soul from hell a-ridding on the range,
Then cowboy better change your ways or with us you will ride,
Trying to catch the devil's herd across the endless sky.
Page 53
NIGHT RIDER'S LAMENT (Key C)
** One of my favorite lyrical changes I've heard done to this
song is to change "camp cookie" to Rod Taylor. Try it sometime. Enjoy! --Coffee **
C F C
While I was out riding the graveyard shift,
C G
Midnight till dawn
F C Am
The moon was as bright as a reading light
G C
For a letter from an old friend back home.
CHORUS
C F G C
He asked me, "Why do you ride for you money,
C F G C
Tell me why do you rope for short pay?"
C F G G Fdim-Dm
"You ain't getting nowhere and your losing your share.
G G7 C
Boy, you must have gone crazy out there."
He tells me last night he run onto Jenny
She's married and has a good life
Boy you sure missed the track
When you never came back
She's a prefect professional's wife.
CHORUS
But they've never seen the Northern Lights
They've never seen a hawk on the wing
They've never seen the spring at the Great Divide
And they've never heard old camp cookie sing.
CHORUS
Well, I read up the last of my letter
I tore off the stamp for "Black Jim"
When Billy rode up to relieve me
He just looked at my letter and grinned.
CHORUS
Because they've never seen the Northern Lights
They've never seen the hawk on the wing
They've never seen the spring at the Great Divide
And they've never heard old camp cookie sing.
Page 54
HOME ON THE RANGE William Goodwin - 1905
C F
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam
C D7 G
And the deer and the antelope play
C F
Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word
C G C
And the sky is not cloudy all day.
CHORUS
C F C
Home, home on the range,
Am D7 G
Where the deer and the antelope play
C F
Where seldome is heard a discouranging word,
C G C
And the sky is not cloudy all day.
Yes, give me the glean of a swift mountain stream
And the place where no hurricanes blow
Oh give me the park where the prairie dogs bark
And the mountains all covered with snow.
CHORUS
Oh give me the hills and the ring of the drills
And the rich silver ore in the ground
Yes, give me the gulch where the miners can sluice
And the bright yellow gold can be found
Oh give me the mine where the prospectors find
The gold in its native land
And the hot springs below, where the sick people go
And camp on the banks of the Grand.
CHORUS
Oh give me the steed and the gun that I need
To shoot the game from my own cabin home
Then give me the camp where the fire is a lamp
And the wild rocky mountains roam.
CHORUS
Yes give me the home where the prospectors roam
There business is always alive
In those wild western hills midst the ring of the drills,
Oh let me live there till I die.
CHORUS
Page 55
I'M BOUND TO LEAVE OL' TEXAS NOW
C
I'm going to leave old Texas now
G C
For they've got no use for the long horn cow
They've plowed and fenced my cattle range
G C
and the people there are all so strange.
I'll take my horse, I'll take my rope
And hit the trail upon a lope
Say adios to the Alamo
And turn my head to Mexico.
I'll make my home on the wide wide range
The people there are not so strange
The hard ground will be my bed
And the saddle will hold my head.
And when I waken from my dreams
I'll eat my bread and my sardines
And then my ride on earth is done
I'll take my turn with the holy one.
I'll tell Saint Peter that I know
A cowboy's soul ain't as white as snow
But in that far-off cattle land
He sometimes acted as a man.
Page 56
TENNESSEE STUD
* In my copy of the Philmont Songbook, Tennessee Stud is
quite faded. One or two of the lyrics I had to guessed at. Feel free to send me
corrections. Just click the feedback link.
D C
Along about 1825, I left Tennessee very much alive,
D
And I never would have got through the Arkansas mud
C D
If I hadn't been ridin' that Tennessee Stud.
D
I had some trouble with my sweetheart's Pa,
C
And one of her brothers was a bad outlaw.
D
I sent her a letter by my Uncle Fud.
C D
Then I rode away on the Tennessee Stud.
Chorus
D C
The Tennesse Stud was long and lean,
G A
The color of the sun and his eyes were green.
D
He had the nerve and he had the blood,
C D
And there never was a hoss lide the Tennessee Stud.
We drifted on down into no-mans land,
We crossed that River called the Rio Grands.
I raced my horse with the Spaniards' folks,
'Till I got me a skin covered with silver and gold.
Chorus
Me and a gambler, we couldn't agree.
We got in a fight over a pair of queens
We jerked out guns and he fell with a thud(?)
And I got away on that Tennessee Stud.
Chorus
Well, I got just as lonesome as a man can be
A dreaming of my girl in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Stud's green eyes turned to blue,
'cause he was dreamin' of a sweetheart too.
Chorus
We dropped right back across Arkansas.
I whipped her brother, I whipped her Pa.
When I found that girl with the golden hair
She was ridin' that Tennessee mare.
Chorus
Stirrip in stirrip, and side by side
We crossed them mountains and valleys wide.
We came to Big Muddy, the we forded a flood
On the Tennessee mare and the Tennessee Stud.
Chorus
There's a pretty little baby on the floor,
And a little horse colt laying around the door,
I love that girl with the golden hair,
And the Tennessee Stud loves the Tennessee Mare.
(They's good horses)
Chorus
Page 57
COOL WATER By Bob Nolan
All day I've faced the baren waste without the taste
of water -- Cool water.
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry and souls that
cry for water. Cool, (water) clear, (water) water (water).
CHORUS
Keep-a movin' Dan, don't you listen to him, Dan,
He's the devil not a man and he spreads the burning sand
with water.
Dan can't you see that big, green tree
Where the water's running free and it's waiting there for you
and me -- Water, cool, clear, water.
CHORUS
The nights are cool and I'm a fool
Each star's a pool of water -- cool water
And way up there, He'll hear our prayer
And show us where there's water --
Cool, (water) clear, (water) water.
CHORUS
Page 58
I RIDE AN OLD PAINT
G D G D
I ride an old paint and I lead an old Dan
D G
I'm going to Montana for to throw the Houlihan.
D G
They feed in the coulees and water in the draw,
D G
Their tails are all matted and their backs are all raw.
CHORUS
D G
Ride around, ride around real slow,
D G
For the fiery and the snuffy are a-r'aring to go.
Old Bill Brown had a daughter and a son,
One went to Denver and the other went wrong.
His wife she died in a pool room fight,
But he is still singing from morning till night.
CHORUS
Oh when I die take my saddle from the wall
Throw it on my pony, lead him from the stall,
Tie my bones to his saddle, turn our faces to the west,
And we'll ride the prairies that we love the best.
CHORUS (repeat)
DAKOTA LAND TUNE: OH TANNEBAUM
Dakota land, Dakota land, upon thy fertile ground we stand.
And gaze across the burning plains, and pray to God to send
the rains, our horses are the finest race, starvation
stares them in the face.
Our chickens are to poor to eat, they've scratched the toes
right off their feet, we have no wheat, we have no oats,
we have no corn to feed out goats,
But with a smile upon our lips, we'll gather up the buffalo
chips, upon this land we'll have to stay, we're too darn
poor to move away.
Dakota land so fertile and rich, we think you are a honey.
Dakota land, Dakota land, upon thy fertile ground we stand,
and gaze across the flooded plains and pray to God to
stop the rains, our horses are the finest race, they
have to swim from place to place.
Our chickens are too poor to eat, they have no webs upon
their feet, we have no wheat, we have no oats, we cannot
harvest them from boats,
But with a smile upon our lips we stand in mud up to our
hips, upon this land we'll have to stay, we have no
boats to move away.
Dakota land so fertile and rich, we think you are a honey.
Page 59
COSMIC COWBOY (Key of C)
C F
Merry go rounds and burial grounds are all the same to me,
G G7
Horses on posts and kids and ghosts are spirits
C
we ought to set free.
C F
Them city slicker pickers got a lot of slicker licks
than you and me, but
G G
Riding the range and acting strange is where I want to be.
Chorus
C F
I just want to be a cosmic cowboy
G C
I just want to ride and rope and hoot.
C F
I just want to be a cosmic cowboy,
C G7 C
A super-natural country-rockin' galoot.
Well, Lone Star sippin' and skinny dippin'
and steel guitars and stars,
Are just as good as Hollywood, and them boogie woogie bars.
I'm gonna buy me a vest and head out west
my little woman and myself.
And when we come to town, they're gonna gather round,
and marvel at my baby's health
Chorus
Well, big raccoons and harvest moons keep rolling
through my mind.
Home on the range where the antelope play is getting very
hard to find.
Don't bury me on the lone prairie, I'd rather play there alive
But I'm doing my best to deep my thumb to the west
My little bronco in overdrive.
Chorus
F G G7 C
And up is not the way I'm gonna shoot. End.(C-F-C-G-C)
