Songs 1 to 20

sung by Vaughn Monroe

sung by Frankie Laine

Hear the original version

sung by Stan Jones

El Paso

by Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins lyrics –

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso

I fell in love with a Mexican girl

Night time would find me in Rosa's cantina

Music would play and Felina would whirl

Blacker than night were the eyes of Felina

Wicked and evil while casting a spell

My love was deep for this Mexican maiden

I was in love but in vain I could tell

One night a wild young cowboy came in

Wild as the West Texas wind

Dashing and daring a drink he was sharing

With wicked Felina the girl that I loved

So in anger I challenged his right for the love of this maiden

Down went his hand for the gun that he wore

My challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat

The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor

Just for a moment I stood there in silence

Shocked by the foul evil deed I had done

Many thoughts raced through my mind as I stood there

I had but one chance and that was to run

Out through the back door of Rosa's I ran

Out where the horses were tied

I caught a good one it looked like it could run

Up on its back and away I did ride

Just as fast as I could from the West Texas town of El Paso

Out to the badlands of New Mexico

Back in El Paso my life would be worthless

Everything's gone in life nothing is left

It's been so long since I've seen the young maiden

My love is stronger than my fear of death

I saddled up and away I did go

Riding alone in the dark

Maybe tomorrow a bullet may find me

Tonight nothin's worse than this pain in my heart

And at last here I

Am on the hill overlooking El Paso

I can see Rosa's cantina below

My love is strong and it pushes me onward

Down off the hill to Felina I go

Off to my right I see five mounted cowboys

Off to my left ride a dozen or more

Shouting and shooting, I can't let them catch me

I have to make it to Rosa's back door

Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel

A deep burning pain in my side

Though I am tryin' to stay in the saddle

I'm getting weary unable to ride

But my love for Felina is strong and I rise where I've fallen

Though I am weary I can't stop to rest

I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle

I feel the bullet go deep in my chest

From out of nowhere Felina has found me

Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side

Cradled by two lovin' arms that I'll die for

One little kiss and Felina, goodbye.

sung by Marty Robbins

sung by Michael Martin Murphey

Cool Water

by Bob Nolan

Vaughn Monroe lyrics –

[Instrumental]

All day I face the barren waste without the taste of water

Cool water

Ole Dan and I with throats burned dry and souls that cry for water

Cool clear water

Keep a-movin' Dan don't you listen to him Dan he's a devil not a man

And he spreads the burning sand with water

Dan can you see that big green tree where the water's runnin' free

And it's waitin' there for me and you

The shadows sway and seem to say tonight we pray for water

Cool water

And way up there He'll hear our prayer and show us where there's water

Cool clear water

Keep a-movin' Dan don't you listen to him Dan he's a devil not a man

But he spreads the burning sand with water

Dan can you see that big green tree where the water's runnin' free

And it's waitin' there for me and you

[Instrumental]

Dan's feet are sore he's yearning for just one thing more than water

Cool water

Like me I guess he's like the rest where there's no quest for water

Cool clear water

Water.

sung by Vaughn Monroe

sung by Marty Robbins

The Streets of Laredo (Cowboy's Lament)

Eddy Arnold lyrics –

As I walked out in the streets of Laredo

As I walked out in Laredo one day

I spied a poor cowboy wrapped up in white linen

Wrapped up in white linen as cold as the clay

"I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy."

These words he did say as I boldly stepped by

"Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story

I was shot in the breast and I know I must die."

"Oh beat the drum slowly and play the pipe lowly

Play the Dead March as you carry me along.

Take me to the green valley there lay the sod o'er me

For I'm a young cowboy. I know I done wrong."

"Go fetch me a cup, a cup of cool water

To cool my parched lips." the poor cowboy said.

Before I returned the spirit had left him

And gone to his maker the cowboy was dead

We beat the drum slowly and played the pipe lowly

And bitterly wept as we bore him along

For we all loved our comrade so brave young and handsome

We all loved our comrade although he'd done wrong.

sung by Eddy Arnold

sung by Tex Ritter

Back in the Saddle Again

by Gene Autry & Ray Whitley

Gene Autry lyrics –

[Instrumental]

I'm back in the saddle again

Out where a friend is a friend

Where the longhorn cattle feed

On the lowly jimson weed

I'm back in the saddle again

Ridin' the range once more

Totin' my old .44

Where you sleep out every night

And the only law is right

Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-oh

Rockin' to and fro

Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-yay

I go my way

Back in the saddle again

[Instrumental]

I'm back in the saddle again

Out where a friend is a friend

Where the longhorn cattle feed

On the lowly jimson weed

I'm back in the saddle again

Ridin' the range once more

Totin' my old .44

Where you sleep out every night

And the only law is right

Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-oh

Rockin' to and fro

Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-yay

I go my way

Back in the saddle again.

sung by Gene Autry

sung by Riders in the Sky

High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)

by Dmitri Tiomkin & Ned Washington

Frankie Laine lyrics –

Do not forsake me oh my darlin' on this our wedding day

Do not forsake me oh my darlin' wait wait along

I do not know what fate awaits me I only know I must be brave

For I must face a man who hates me

Or lie a coward a craven coward or lie a coward in my grave

Oh to be torn 'twixt love and duty supposin' I lose my fair haired beauty

Look at that big hand move along nearing high noon

He made a vow while in state prison vowed it would be my life or his'n

I'm not afraid of death but oh what shall I do if you leave me

Do not forsake me oh my darlin' you made that promise as a bride

Do not forsake me oh my darlin' although you're grievin' don't think of leavin'

Now that I need you by my side

Wait along wait along wait along wait along

Wait along wait along wait along wait along.

sung by Frankie Laine

sung by Tex Ritter

Oh Shenandoah

Tennessee Ernie Ford lyrics –

Oh, Shenandoah I hear you calling

Hi-oh, you rollin' river

O Shenandoah I long to hear you

Hi-oh, I'm bound away

'Cross the wide Missouri

Missouri, she's a mighty river

Hi-oh, you rolling river

When she rolls down her topsail shivers

Hi-oh, I'm bound away

'Cross the wide Missouri

Farewell my dearest I'm bound to leave you

Hi-oh, you rollin' river

Oh Shenandoah I'll not deceive you

Hi-oh, I'm bound away

'Cross the wide Missouri.

sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford

sung by The Weavers

Tumbling Tumbleweeds

by Bob Nolan

Roy Rogers & Sons of the Pioneers lyrics –

See them tumbling down

Pledging their love to the ground

Lonely but free I'll be found

Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds

Cares of the past are behind

Nowhere to go but I'll find

Just where the trail will wind

Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds

I know when night has gone

That a new world's born at dawn

I'll keep rolling along

Deep in my heart is a song

Here on the range I belong

Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds

[Instrumental with Whistling]

I know when night has gone

That a new world's born at dawn

I'll keep rolling along

Deep in my heart is a song

Here on the range I belong

Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

sung by Roy Rogers & Sons of the Pioneers

sung by Slim Whitman

Home on the Range

by Brewster Higley & Daniel E. Kelley

Gene Autry lyrics –

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam

Where the deer and the antelope play

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day

Home, home on the range

Where the deer and the antelope play

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And th' skies are not cloudy all day

How often at night when the heavens are bright

With the light from the glittering stars

Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed

If their glory exceeds that of ours

Home, home on the range

Where the deer and the antelope play

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day

Home, home on the range

Where the deer and the antelope play

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

sung by Gene Autry

sung by Roy Rogers

Brewster Higley

His Home

Red River Valley

Gene Autry lyrics –

From this valley they say you are goin'

I will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile

For they say you are takin' the sunshine

That has brightened our pathway the while

Do you think of the valley you're leavin'

Oh how lonely and dreary it will be

Do you think of the fond heart you're breakin'

And the sadness you've cast over me

For a long time my dear, I've been waiting

For the words that you never would say

And alas my poor heart you are breakin'

For they tell me you're goin' away

[Instrumental]

As you go to your home by the ocean

May you never forget those sweet hours

That we spent in the Red River Valley

And the love we exchanged mid the flowers

Come and sit by my side if you love me

Do not hasten to bid me adieu

But remember the Red River Valley

And the one that has loved you so true.

#10

sung by Gene Autry

sung by Suzy Bogguss

Big Iron

by Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins lyrics –

To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day

Hardly spoke to folks around him didn't have too much to say

No one dared to ask his business no one dared to make a slip

For the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip

Big iron on his hip

It was early in the mornin' when he rode into the town

He came ridin' from the south side slowly lookin' all around

He's an outlaw loose and runnin' came the whisper from each lip

And he's here to do some business with the big iron on his hip

Big iron on his hip

In this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas Red

Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead

He was vicious and a killer though a youth of twenty-four

And the notches on his pistol numbered one an nineteen more

One and nineteen more

Now the stranger started talkin' made it plain to folks around

Was an Arizona ranger wouldn't be too long in town

He came here to take an outlaw back alive or maybe dead

And he said it didn't matter he was after Texas Red

After Texas Red

Wasn't long before the story was relayed to Texas Red

But the outlaw didn't worry men that tried before were dead

Twenty men had tried to take him twenty men had made a slip

Twenty-one would be the ranger with the big iron on his hip

Big iron on his hip

The morning passed so quickly it was time for them to meet

It was twenty past eleven when they walked out in the street

Folks were watchin' from the windows everybody held their breath

They knew this handsome ranger was about to meet his death

About to meet his death

There was forty feet between 'em when they stopped to make their play

And the swiftness of the ranger is still talked about today

Texas Red had not cleared leather 'fore a bullet fairly ripped

And the ranger's aim was deadly with the big iron on his hip

Big iron on his hip

It was over in a moment and the folks had gathered 'round

There before them lay the body of the outlaw on the ground

Oh he might have went on living but he made one fatal slip

When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip

Big iron on his hip

Big iron Big iron

When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip

Big iron on his hip.

#11

sung by Marty Robbins

sung by Michael Martin Murphey

An Arizona Ranger

Don't Fence Me In

by Cole Porter & Robert Fletcher

Gene Autry lyrics –

Oh give me land lots of land under starry skies above

Don't fence me in

Let me ride through the wide open country that I love

Don't fence me in

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze

Listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees

Send me off forever but I ask you please

Don't fence me in

Just turn me loose let me straddle my old saddle

Underneath the western skies

On my cayuse let me wander over yonder

Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences

Gaze at the moon till I lose my senses

Can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences

Don't fence me in

[Instrumental]

Just turn me loose let me straddle my old saddle

Underneath the western skies

On my cayuse let me wander over yonder

Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences

Gaze at the moon till I lose my senses

Can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences

Don't fence me in.

#12

sung by Gene Autry

sung by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters

Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie

Michael Martin Murphey lyrics –

"O bury me not on the lone prairie."

These words came sad and mournfully

From the pallid lips of a youth who lay

On his dying bed at the close of day

"It matters not, so I've been told

Where the body lies when the heart grows cold

But grant oh grant this wish to me

Bury me not on the lone prairie."

"Bury me not on the lone prairie

Where coyotes howl the wind blows free

In a narrow grave six by three

O bury me not on the lone prairie."

"Bury me not..." his voice failed there

We took no heed of his dying prayer

In a narrow grave six by three

We buried him there on the lone prairie

The cowboys now as they roam the plain

They mark a spot where his bones were lain

Fling a handful of roses o'er his grave

With a prayer to God his soul to save.

#13

sung by Michael Martin Murphey

sung by Sons of the Pioneers

Desperado

by Glenn Frey & Don Henley

Eagles lyrics –

[Instrumental]

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?

You been out ridin' fences for so long now

Oh you're a hard one

I know that you got your reasons

These things that are pleasin' you

Can hurt you somehow

Don't you draw the queen of diamonds boy

She'll beat you if she's able

You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me some fine things

Have been laid upon your table

But ya only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado oh you ain't gettin' no younger

Your pain and your hunger they're drivin' you home

An' freedom oh freedom well that's just some people talkin'

Your prison is walkin' through this world all alone

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?

The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine

It's hard to tell the night time from the day

You're losin' all your highs and lows

Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado why don't you come to your senses?

Come down from your fences open the gate

It may be rainin' but there's a rainbow above you

You better let somebody love you

(Let somebody love you)

You better let somebody love you before it's too late...

#14

sung by Eagles

sung by Linda Ronstadt

Wildfire

by Michael Martin Murphey

Michael Martin Murphey lyrics –

[Instrumental]

She comes down from Yellow Mountain

On a dark, flat land she rides

On a pony she named Wildfire

A whirlwind by her side

On a cold Nebraska night

Oh, they say she died one winter

When there came a killin' frost

And the pony she named Wildfire

Busted down its stall

In a blizzard she was lost

She ran callin' Wildfire

Callin' Wildfire

So by the dark of the moon, I planted

But there came an early snow

Been a hoot owl howling outside my window now

'Bout six nights in a row

She's coming for me, I know

And on Wildfire we're both gonna go

We'll be ridin' Wildfire

Ridin' Wildfire

On Wildfire we're gonna ride

Gonna leave sodbustin' behind

Get the hard times right on out of our minds

Ridin' Wildfire

[Instrumental]

#15

sung by Michael Martin Murphey

sung by The Billen Brothers

Cattle Call

by Tex Owens

Eddy Arnold lyrics –

[Yodels]

The cattle are prowlin'

The coyotes are howlin'

Way out where the dogies bawl

Where spurs are a jinglin'

A cowboy is singin'

This lonesome cattle call

[Yodels]

He rides in the sun

'Til his day's work is done

And he rounds up the cattle each fall

[Yodels]

Singin' his cattle call

For hours he would ride

On the range far and wide

When the night winds blow up a squall

His heart is a feather

In all kinds of weather

He sings his cattle call

[Yodels]

He's brown as a berry

From ridin' the prairie

And he sings with an old western drawl

[Yodels]

Singin' his cattle call.

[Yodels]

#16

sung by Eddy Arnold

sung by Slim Whitman

Pancho and Lefty

by Townes van Zandt

Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson lyrics –

Livin' on the road my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean

Now you wear your skin like iron

An' your breath is hard as kerosene

Weren't your momma's only boy, but her favorite one it seems

She began to cry when you said goodbye

Sank into your dreams

Pancho was a bandit boy, his horse was fast as polished steel

He wore his gun outside his pants

For all the honest world to feel

Pancho met his match you know on the deserts down in Mexico

Nobody heard his dyin' word, ah but that's the way it goes

All the Federales say, they could've had him any day

They only let him slip away, out of kindness I suppose

Lefty he can't sing the blues all night long like he used to

The dust that Pancho bit down south ended up in Lefty's mouth

Th' day they laid poor Pancho low, Lefty split for Ohio

Where he got the bread to go, there ain't nobody knows

All the Federales say, they could've had him any day

We only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose

[Instrumental]

The poets tell how Pancho fell, and Lefty's livin' in cheap hotels

The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold

And so the story ends we're told

Pancho needs your prayers it's true, but save a few for Lefty too

He only did what he had to do, and now he's growing old

All the Federales say, they could've had him any day

Only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose

A few gray Federales say, could've had him any day

We only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose.

#17

sung by Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson

sung by Townes van Zandt

Little Joe the Wrangler

by N. Howard Thorp

Red Steagall lyrics –

Little Joe the wrangler will wrangle never more

His days with the remuda they're all done

Long about last April that he rode into our camp

Just a little Texas stray and all alone

'Twas long late in the evenin' when he rode into our camp

On a little old brown pony he called Shaw

With his brogan shoes and coveralls a harder lookin' kid

You never in your life had seen before

His saddle was a southern kack built many years ago

And an OK spur on one foot idly hung

His hot roll in a cotton sack was loosely tied behind

And a canteen from the saddle horn he'd slung

Said he'd had to leave his home because his Pa had married twice

And his new Ma beat him every day or two

So he saddled up old Shaw one night and lit a shuck this way

Thought he'd try and paddle now his own canoe

Said he'd try and do the best he could if we'd only give him work

Though he didn't know straight up about a cow

So the boss he cut him out a mount then kinder put him on

Then we knew he liked our little stray somehow

He taught him how to herd the horses 'n learned to know 'em all

And to round 'em up by daylight if he could

Then to follow the chuck wagon and to always hitch the team

And to help the cocinaro rustle wood

We'd driven to Red River and the weather it was fine

We had camped down on the south side in a bend

When a Norther started blowin' and we called the extra guards

'Cause it took all hands to hold the cattle in

Now little Joe the wrangler was called out with all the rest

And barely had the kid got to the herd

When the cattle they stampeded like a hail storm long they flew

With all of us a-ridin' for the lead

'Tween the streaks of lightnin' we could see a horse ahead

'Twas little Joe the wrangler in the lead

He was ridin' ol' Blue Rocket with his slicker o'er his head

An' he's tryin' to check the leaders in their speed

We finally got 'em millin' and they sorta quieted down

And the extra guard back to the camp did go

But one of them was missin' and we all knew at a glance

'Twas our little Texas stray poor wrangler Joe

Found 'im there at sunup where ol' Blue Rocket fell

In a washout some twenty feet below

Beneath his horse smashed to a pulp his spurs had rung the knell

For our little Texas stray poor wrangler Joe

Now little Joe the wrangler will wrangle never more

His days with the remuda they're all done

[spoken]

Long about last April when he rode into our camp

Just a little Texas stray and all alone.

#18

sung by Red Steagall

sung by Don Edwards

N. Howard "Jack" Thorp

They Call the Wind Maria

by Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe

Harve Presnell lyrics –

Maria, Maria

They call the wind Maria

A way out here they got a name

For rain and wind and fire

The rain is Tess, the fire's Joe

And they call the wind Maria

Maria blows the stars around

And sends the clouds a-flyin'

Maria makes the mountain sound

Like folks were up there dyin'

Maria, Maria

They call the wind Maria

Before I knew Maria's name

And heard her wail and whinin'

I had a girl and she had me

And the sun was always shinin'

But then one day I left my girl

I left her far behind me

And now I'm lost so gol dern lost

Not even God can find me

Maria, Maria

They call the wind Maria

Out here they got a name for rain

For wind and fire only

But when you're lost and all alone

There ain't no word but lonely

And I'm a lost and lonely man

Without a star to guide me

Maria blow my love to me

I need my girl beside me

Maria, Maria

They call the wind Maria

Maria, Maria

Blow my love to me.

#19

sung by Harve Presnell

sung by Pernell Roberts

Harve Presnell

Coyotes

by Bob McDill

Don Edwards lyrics –

[Instrumental]

Was a cowboy I knew in south Texas

His face was burnt deep by the sun

Part history, part sage, part Mexican

He was there when Pancho Villa was young

And he'd tell you a tale of the old days

When the country was wild all around

Sit out under the stars of the Milky Way

And listen while the coyotes howl

And they go... Whoo yip hoo yip hoo

Hoodle oo yip hoo hooi hoo hoo

Whoo yip hoo yip hoo

Hoodle oo yip hoo hoo yip hoo hoo

Now the longhorns are gone

And the drovers are gone

The Comanches are gone

And the outlaws are gone

Geronimo's gone

And Sam Bass is gone

And the lion is gone

And the red wolf is gone

Well he cursed all the roads and the oil men

And he cursed the automobile

Said this is no place for an hombre like I am

In this new world of asphalt and steel

Then he'd look off some place in the distance

At somethin' only he could see

He'd say all that's left now of the old days

Damned old coyotes and me

And they go hoo yip hoo yip hoo

Hoodle oo yip hoo hooi hoo hoo

Hoo yip hoo yip hoo

Hoodle oo yip hoo hooa hoo hoo

Now the longhorns are gone

And the drovers are gone

The Comanches are gone

The outlaws are gone

Now Quantro's gone

Stand Watie is gone

And the lion is gone

And the red wolf is gone

One mornin' they searched his adobe

He disappeared without even a word

But that night as the moon crossed the mountain

One more coyote was heard

And he'd go hoo yip hoo yip hoo

Hoodle oo yip hoo hoo yip hoo hoo

Hoo yip hoo yip hoo

Hoodle oo yip hoo hoo yip hoo hoo

Hoo yip hoo yip hoo

Hoodle oo yip hoo hoo yip hoo hoo

Hoo yip hoo yip hoo

Hoodle oo yip hoo hoo yip hoo hoo...

#20

sung by Don Edwards

sung by Anica Stemper