Cowboy songs, and other frontier ballads

Ballads, English -- West (U.S.); Cowboys -- Songs and music; Folk songs, English -- West (U.S.)

One day we all were sittin' round
  Smokin' nigger head tobacco
  And hearing Bob expound;
  Hell, he said, was all a humbug,
  And he made it plain as day
  That the Bible was a fable;
  And we lowed it looked that way.
  Miracles and such like
  Were too rank for him to stand,
  And as for him they called the Savior
  He was just a common man.

  "You're a liar," someone shouted,
  "And you've got to take it back."
  Then everybody started,--
  'Twas the words of Silver Jack.
  And he cracked his fists together
  And he stacked his duds and cried,
  "'Twas in that thar religion
  That my mother lived and died;
  And though I haven't always
  Used the Lord exactly right,
  Yet when I hear a chump abuse him
  He's got to eat his words or fight."

  Now, this Bob he weren't no coward
  And he answered bold and free:
  "Stack your duds and cut your capers,
  For there ain't no flies on me."
  And they fit for forty minutes
  And the crowd would whoop and cheer
  When Jack spit up a tooth or two,
  Or when Bobby lost an ear.

  But at last Jack got him under
  And he slugged him onct or twict,
  And straightway Bob admitted
  The divinity of Christ.
  But Jack kept reasoning with him
  Till the poor cuss gave a yell
  And lowed he'd been mistaken
  In his views concerning hell.

  Then the fierce encounter ended
  And they riz up from the ground
  And someone brought a bottle out
  And kindly passed it round.
  And we drank to Bob's religion
  In a cheerful sort o' way,
  But the spread of infidelity
  Was checked in camp that day.

[Footnote 7: A lumber jack song adopted by the cowboys.]




THE COWBOY'S CHRISTMAS BALL[8]


  Way out in Western Texas, where the Clear Fork's waters flow,
  Where the cattle are a-browzin' and the Spanish ponies grow;
  Where the Northers come a-whistlin' from beyond the Neutral Strip;
  And the prairie dogs are sneezin', as though they had the grip;
  Where the coyotes come a-howlin' round the ranches after dark,
  And the mockin' birds are singin' to the lovely medder lark;
  Where the 'possum and the badger and the rattlesnakes abound,
  And the monstrous stars are winkin' o'er a wilderness profound;
  Where lonesome, tawny prairies melt into airy streams,
  While the Double Mountains slumber in heavenly kinds of dreams;
  Where the antelope is grazin' and the lonely plovers call,--
  It was there I attended the Cowboy's Christmas Ball.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

General

Cowboy songs, and other frontier ballads

Ballads, English -- West (U.S.); Cowboys -- Songs and music; Folk songs, English -- West (U.S.)

One day we all were sittin' round
  Smokin' nigger head tobacco
  And hearing Bob expound;
  Hell, he said, was all a humbug,
  And he made it plain as day
  That the Bible was a fable;
  And we lowed it looked that way.
  Miracles and such like
  Were too rank for him to stand,
  And as for him they called the Savior
  He was just a common man.

  "You're a liar," someone shouted,
  "And you've got to take it back."
  Then everybody started,--
  'Twas the words of Silver Jack.
  And he cracked his fists together
  And he stacked his duds and cried,
  "'Twas in that thar religion
  That my mother lived and died;
  And though I haven't always
  Used the Lord exactly right,
  Yet when I hear a chump abuse him
  He's got to eat his words or fight."

  Now, this Bob he weren't no coward
  And he answered bold and free:
  "Stack your duds and cut your capers,
  For there ain't no flies on me."
  And they fit for forty minutes
  And the crowd would whoop and cheer
  When Jack spit up a tooth or two,
  Or when Bobby lost an ear.

  But at last Jack got him under
  And he slugged him onct or twict,
  And straightway Bob admitted
  The divinity of Christ.
  But Jack kept reasoning with him
  Till the poor cuss gave a yell
  And lowed he'd been mistaken
  In his views concerning hell.

  Then the fierce encounter ended
  And they riz up from the ground
  And someone brought a bottle out
  And kindly passed it round.
  And we drank to Bob's religion
  In a cheerful sort o' way,
  But the spread of infidelity
  Was checked in camp that day.

[Footnote 7: A lumber jack song adopted by the cowboys.]




THE COWBOY'S CHRISTMAS BALL[8]


  Way out in Western Texas, where the Clear Fork's waters flow,
  Where the cattle are a-browzin' and the Spanish ponies grow;
  Where the Northers come a-whistlin' from beyond the Neutral Strip;
  And the prairie dogs are sneezin', as though they had the grip;
  Where the coyotes come a-howlin' round the ranches after dark,
  And the mockin' birds are singin' to the lovely medder lark;
  Where the 'possum and the badger and the rattlesnakes abound,
  And the monstrous stars are winkin' o'er a wilderness profound;
  Where lonesome, tawny prairies melt into airy streams,
  While the Double Mountains slumber in heavenly kinds of dreams;
  Where the antelope is grazin' and the lonely plovers call,--
  It was there I attended the Cowboy's Christmas Ball.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Cowboy songs, and other frontier ballads

Cowboy songs, and other frontier ballads

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