Page 80
DROUGHT YEARS
Topsoil like gunpowder,
Fields set to blow
Sky is dry as the desert out west
Sun just beating down the rows.
CHORUS
And I wish it would rain before we all fall to the flames
Burn up and blow away
Not a cent to our names
Only hell to play, I wish it would rain
I wish it would rain.
I've seen the devil on the road
He was coming for his till
With a guitar and a Cadillac
And a plan to repossess my soul.
CHORUS
I used to be a praying man
But there is one thing I can tell
Heaven's just as hot as hell.
CHORUS
Page 81
ROSE OF CIMARRON
CHORUS
G D Trails that brought them home
Roll along, roll on, Echoes they've known
C G For days high and lonely
Rose of Cimarron Coming to you only here
G D
Dusty days are gone You're the one they turn to
C G The only one they knew you
Rose of Cimarron Were all the best to be around
When the chips were down.
Bb
Shadows touch the sand an' CHORUS
Gm D
Look to see who's standin' Shadows touch the sand an'
Bb Look to see who's standin'
Waiting' at your window Waitin' at the window
Gm D Watchin' will they ever show.
Watchin' will they ever show.
CHORUS
Can you hear them callin' Hopes that ghosts believe
You know they have fallen on Followin' the dawn
Campfires cold and dark that Laughter pity's song
A-D Rose of Cimarron.
Never see a spark burn bright.
CHORUS
SHADY GROVE
Chorus
Dm
Shady Grove, my little love Chorus
Shady Grove I say Wish I had a big fine horse
C And the corn to feed him on
Shady Grove my little love Little Shady Grove to stay at home
Am Dm and feed him while I'm gone
I'm bound to go away.
Chorus
Cheeks as red as the bloomin' rose When I was a little boy
Eyes of the pertiest brown I wanted a Barlow knife
She's the darling of my heart Now I want little Shady Grove
Sweetest little girl in town. To be my little wife
Chorus Chorus
Wish I had a glass of wine A kiss from my little Shady Grove
Bread and meat for two Is sweet as Brandy wine
I'd set it out on a golden plate And there ain't no girl in this world
And give it all to you. That's prettier than mine.
Chorus Chorus 2 Times
I went to see little Shady Grove
She was standing' in the door
Her shoes and stockings in her hand
And her little bare feet on the floor.
Other lyrics not in the songbook:
Peaches in the summertime
Apples in the Fall
If I can't have the girl I love
I don't want none at all.
CHORUS:
Shady Grove, my little love
Shady Grove I know
Shady Grove my little love
I'm bound for Shady Grove
I wish I had a banjo string
Made of gold and twine
And every tune I'd play on it
I'd wish that girl was mine.
CHORUS
Wish I had a needle and thread
Fine as I could sew
I'd sew that pretty girl to my side
And down the road I'd go
CHORUS
Some come here to fiddle and dance
Some come here to tarry
Some come here to fiddle and dance
I come here to marry
CHORUS
Page 82
CANADIAN RAILROAD TRILOGY
F Bb F
There was a time in this fair land when the railroad
did not run,
F/E Bb Csus4
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against
the sun
F Bb F
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
C Bb
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real.
But time has no beginnings and history has no bounds
As to this verdant country they came from all around.
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the
forests tall.
Built the mines, mills and factories for the good of
us all.
And when the young man's fancy was turning in the
spring
The railroad men grew restless for to hear the hammers
ring.
Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their
day
And many a fortune won and lost, and many a debt to pay.
For they looked in the future and what did they see,
They saw an iron road running from sea to the sea.
Bringing the goods to a young growing land,
All up from the seaports and into their hands.
Bring in the workers and bring up the rails
We gotta lay down the tracks and tear up the trails.
Open her heart - let the lifeblood flow
Gotta get on our way, 'cause we're movin' too slow.
Behind the blue Rockies the sun is declinin'
The stars they come stealin' at the close of the day.
Across the wide prairie our loved ones lie sleeping
Beyond the dark forest in a place far away.
We are the plowboys who work upon the railway
Swingin' our hammers in the bright blazin' sun
Livin' on stew and drinkin' bad whiskey
Layin' down track 'till the long days are done.
Yeah, bendin' our backs 'till the railroad is done.
Now the song of the future has been sung,
All the battles have been won.
On the mountain tops we stand,
All the world at our command.
We have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our
toil.
There was a time in this fair land when the railroad
did not run,
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against
the sun.
Long before the white men and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real.
And many are the dead man -- too silent to be real.
Page 83
BOY FROM THE COUNTRY
Because he called the forest brother,
Because he called the earth his mother.
They drove him out into the rain
And some people even said that the boy from
the country was insane.
Because he spoke with the fish in the creek.
He tried to tell us that the animals could speak.
And who knows, perhaps they do.
How can you say they don't, just because they've
never spoken to you?
CHORUS
Boy from the country, he left his home when he was
young.
Boy from the country, he loves the sun.
He tried to tell us that we should love the land
But we just turned our heads and laughed,
'cause, you see, we did not understand.
And it seems many have forgotten what the life
of the country boy revealed.
That one single blade of grass is far more important
than a field.
CHORUS
Page 84
MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN COWBOYS
D
I grew up a dreaming of being a cowboy
G
And loving the cowboy ways
Pursuing the life of my high-riding heroes
E A-A7
I burned up my childhood days.
D
I learned all the rules of the modern day drifter
G D
Dontcha hold on to nothing too long.
G D B min
Just take what you need from the ladies and leave them
D A D-D7
With the words of a sad country song.
CHORUS
G D
My heroes have always been cowboys
E A
They still are it seems.
G D B min
Sadly in search of and one step in back of
D A D
Themselves and their slow-moging dreams.
Cowboys are special, with their own brand of misery
From being alone too long
To die from the cold in the arms of a nightmare
Knowing well that your best days are gone
And picking up hookers instead of my pen
I let the words of my youth fade away
Old worn out saddles, and old worn out memories
With no one, and no place to stay.
CHORUS
EDELWEISS
Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me.
Small and white, clean and bright, you look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow, may you bloon and grow,
Bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland forever.
Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland forever.
Page 85
MOTHER EARTH
CHORUS
Mother Earth lives in the ocean,
Mother Earth sails on the sea.
I am blessed with her devotion
Mother Earth provides for me.
When the grasslands crave for water
And the harvest needs sunlight
These are times when I am helpless
Mother Earth makes all things right.
CHORUS
Green trees grow on the mountain top
Birds still sing when the morning comes
Though I treat her carelessly
Mohter Earth still cares for me.
Mohter Earth still cares for me.
I am going on a journey
And I pray all things end well
When Mother Earth looks after me
I will follow faithfully.
CHORUS X2
Page 86
BOY FROM OKLAHOMA
Travelin' cross the country playin' on my circuit line
Sometimes I think about a man who was here berore my time
Named for the twenty-eighth President with a Guthrie tacked to the end
Born in Okemah shoes with the dust bowl blues
Friend of the working man.
Now he wasn't partial to New York buldings that tries to touch the sky
Or West Virgina coal mines that took so many lives
Or the way they drove the migrant workers back over into Mexico way
And the scabs they run when they hard he'd come
And the bosses started to pray.
Just a boy from Oklahoma on an endless stand
Wanderin' and a ramblin' and driftin' with the midnight sand
He played the blues and the ballads and all that came between
His heart was in the unino, and his soul was reachin' out for the
servant's dream.
Now I was talkin' to a man that had met hin in a bar near Clovis town
He said the whold place was a shakin' as they was passin' his songs around
And he said through his grin, "I put my thumb in the wind
And I'm off down the road again."
"I'm just a boy from Oklahoma on an endle
ss one night stand
I wander and I ranble and I drift with the midnight sand
I play the blues and the ballads and all that comes between
My heart is in the union, and my soul is reachin' out for the servant's
dream."
Now you know that Woody Guthrie is dead and buried in the ground
But sometimes I sing his songs, And I get to thinking that he's still around
'Cause I'll hold that his fire is everlasting, I'll testify that his course
was ran true.
And the ramblin' man's ris', and the kingdom's his
But the songs are for me and you.
Page 87
I'LL BE TRUE TO YOU
D A G
They met upon a blue moon
D C/D G
And they parted on a cloudy day
D C/D G
They were so in love and out of school
C G A
But he was goin' so far away.
CHORUS
D A G
She cried I'll be true to you
D A G
Even though you didn't ask me to
D A G
and I'll be blue for you
And I'll be blue for you
D A G
Even though you didn't want me to.
Well the years drifted by them as we all know they can
He had other women but she refused other men
And as fate would have it they met again
She was on a downhill slide and he was just sliding in.
As he looked into her eyes that night he never realized
The only true love in his life was passin' by
And as he left her standin' there with his words good-bye
He turned around to walk away and as he walked she cried.
CHORUS - I've been true to you
Seems like speaking to me is the least you could do
And I've been blue for you
Even though you didn't want me to.
She'd been drinking way too hard one night
She's been drinking way too long
Alone and pale in a cheap hotel she died there in the dawn
Kneeling by her grave for so late and oh so long
He long to hold her once again cryin' on and on.
CHORUS - I'll be true to you
After all that I have put you through
And I'll be blue for you
Even though you never asked me to.
Page 88
FOX ON THE RUN
audio example (808 KB, .mp3)
** The lyrics in the audio example are not the same as
written in the songbook. Sing it how you like. Music's like cooking, everyone likes
to add their own spices. **
CHORUS
G D Am C
She walks through the corn leading down to the river
Am C D G
Her hair shown like gold in the bright morning sun.
G D Am C
She took all the love that a poor boy could give her
Am C D G
And she left him to die like a fox on the run.
C G
Like a fox........... on the run.
C G D G
Now everybody knows the reason for the fall.
C G A D
When a woman tempted a man down in Paradise's Mall
C G D G
Well a woman tempted me and she took me for a ride.
C G D G
So now this weary fox needs some place to hide.
CHORUS
Come take a cup of wine to fortify your soul
And talk about the world and friends I used to know.
Well, I'll illustrate a girl who threw me to the floor
But now the game is up and the hounds are at the door.
CHORUS (twice)
This song is dedicated to the 1980 Activities Staff.
Page 89
PAINTED LADY
Followin' the stars through the honky-tonks and bars
Dream away on a country music pride
I'm gonna start the evening by myself, but you can bet by the
hour of twelve
Gonna have a pretty painted lady by my side.
Gonna tell that woman how it usedf to be when the west was wild
and the land was free
How the western world would travel for country mile
But then one day when the barbed wire came and forced my hand to
play a truckin' game
Wishin' to be a cowboy all the while.
CHORUS - Painted lady tell me of the past gone by
Roll me like the open range and ride me high
Kiss me to a day when your dress was made of calico
or gingham
And a man was a man.
So painted lady with your painted face tell me 'bout your life
and your painted ways.
Tell me with your loving lips and you rloving eyes
I can see the pain and I can see the tears on the painted cheeks
that hide the years
Of a lonesome cowgirl in disguise.
CHORUS
