Cowboy Songs | Page 8

me, And I pulled out half my hair; And if you ever tell this
now, You bet you'll hear me swear.
It said my Sallie was fickle, Her love for me had fled, That she had
married a butcher, Whose hair was awful red; It told me more than that,
It's enough to make me swear,-- It said that Sallie had a baby And the
baby had red hair.
Now I've told you all that I can tell About this sad affair, 'Bout Sallie
marrying the butcher And the baby had red hair. But whether it was a
boy or girl The letter never said, It only said its cussed hair Was
inclined to be red.

THE COWBOY'S DREAM[2]
Last night as I lay on the prairie, And looked at the stars in the sky, I
wondered if ever a cowboy Would drift to that sweet by and by.
Roll on, roll on; Roll on, little dogies, roll on, roll on, Roll on, roll on;
Roll on, little dogies, roll on.
The road to that bright, happy region Is a dim, narrow trail, so they say;
But the broad one that leads to perdition Is posted and blazed all the
way.
They say there will be a great round-up, And cowboys, like dogies, will
stand, To be marked by the Riders of Judgment Who are posted and
know every brand.
I know there's many a stray cowboy Who'll be lost at the great, final

sale, When he might have gone in the green pastures Had he known of
the dim, narrow trail.
I wonder if ever a cowboy Stood ready for that Judgment Day, And
could say to the Boss of the Riders, "I'm ready, come drive me away."
For they, like the cows that are locoed, Stampede at the sight of a hand,
Are dragged with a rope to the round-up, Or get marked with some
crooked man's brand.
And I'm scared that I'll be a stray yearling,-- A maverick, unbranded on
high,-- And get cut in the bunch with the "rusties" When the Boss of
the Riders goes by.
For they tell of another big owner Whose ne'er overstocked, so they say,
But who always makes room for the sinner Who drifts from the straight,
narrow way.
They say he will never forget you, That he knows every action and look;
So, for safety, you'd better get branded, Have your name in the great
Tally Book.
[Footnote 2: Sung to the air of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.]

THE COWBOY'S LIFE[3]
The bawl of a steer, To a cowboy's ear, Is music of sweetest strain; And
the yelping notes Of the gray cayotes To him are a glad refrain.
And his jolly songs Speed him along, As he thinks of the little gal With
golden hair Who is waiting there At the bars of the home corral.
For a kingly crown In the noisy town His saddle he wouldn't change;
No life so free As the life we see Way out on the Yaso range.
His eyes are bright And his heart as light As the smoke of his cigarette;
There's never a care For his soul to bear, No trouble to make him fret.

The rapid beat Of his broncho's feet On the sod as he speeds along,
Keeps living time To the ringing rhyme Of his rollicking cowboy song.
Hike it, cowboys, For the range away On the back of a bronc of steel,
With a careless flirt Of the raw-hide quirt And a dig of a roweled heel!
The winds may blow And the thunder growl Or the breezes may safely
moan;-- A cowboy's life Is a royal life, His saddle his kingly throne.
Saddle up, boys, For the work is play When love's in the cowboy's
eyes,-- When his heart is light As the clouds of white That swim in the
summer skies.
[Footnote 3: Attributed to James Barton Adams.]

THE KANSAS LINE
Come all you jolly cowmen, don't you want to go Way up on the
Kansas line? Where you whoop up the cattle from morning till night
All out in the midnight rain.
The cowboy's life is a dreadful life, He's driven through heat and cold;
I'm almost froze with the water on my clothes, A-ridin' through heat
and cold.
I've been where the lightnin', the lightnin' tangled in my eyes, The
cattle I could scarcely hold; Think I heard my boss man say: "I want all
brave-hearted men who ain't afraid to die To whoop up the cattle from
morning till night, Way up on the Kansas line."
Speaking of your farms and your shanty charms, Speaking of your
silver and gold,-- Take a cowman's advice, go and marry you a true and
lovely little wife, Never to roam,