Arlo Guthrie Album

arranged & adapted by Arlo Guthrie

As I was walking down the street
Down the street, down the street
A pretty girl I chanced to meet
And we danced by the light of the moon

CHORUS:
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Come out tonight come out tonight
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
And we'll dance by the light of the moon

I danced with a gal with a hole in her stocking
And he knees was a-knockin' and her shoes was a'rockin'
I danced with a gal with a hole in her stocking
And we danced by the light of the moon

CHORUS

I danced with a gal with a hole in her stocking
And her knees was a-knockin' and her shoes was a-rockin'
I danced with a gal with a hole in her stocking
And we danced by the light of the moon

CHORUS

words and music by Woody Guthrie

Well, the new sheriff wrote me a letter
Yes, the new sheriff wrote me a letter
Come up and see me, dead or alive
Come up and see me, dead or alive

CHORUS 1:
Dead or alive, if s a hard road
It's a hard road, dead or alive

Well, he even sent me my picture
Yes, he even sent me my picture
How do I look, boys, dead or alive?
How do I look, boys, dead or alive? (Chorus I)

Well, he said he would pay expenses
Yes, he said he would pay expenses
Dead or alive, no thanks!
New sheriff, I'm a poor boy

CHORUS 2:
If s a hard road, dead or alive
Dead or alive, if s a hard road

Well, he said he would feed and do the me
Yes, he said he would feed and do the me
Dead or alive, no thanks!
New sheriff, I'm a poor boy (Chorus 2)

Well, I'm sorry but I can't come, sheriff
Yes, I'm sorry but I can't come, sheriff
Dead or alive, no thanks!
New sheriff, I'm a poor boy (Chorus 2)

I don't like your hard rock hotel
I don't like your hard rock hotel
Dead or alive, new sheriff
No thanks, I'm a poor boy (Chorus 2)

I gotta go down and see my little sweet thing f
Gonna go down and see my little sweet thing
Dead or alive, yes, Lord!
No thanks, new sheriff (Chorus 2)

arranged & adapted by Arlo Guthrie

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
All wrapped 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 proudly stepped by
"Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story
I'm shot in the breast and I know I must die

"'Twas once in the saddle I used to go ridin'
Once in the saddle I used to go gay
First lead to drinkin', and then to card-playing
I'm shot in the breast and I'm dying today

"Let six jolly cowboys come carry my coffin
Let six pretty gals come to carry my pall
Throw bunches of roses all over my coffin
Throw roses to deaden the clods as they fall

"Oh, beat the drum slowly, and play the fife lowly
And play the dead march as you carry me along
Take me to the green valley and lay the earth o'er me
For I'm a poor cowboy and I know I've done wrong"

We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly
And bitterly wept as we carried him along
For we all loved our comrade, so brave, young and handsome
We all loved our comrade although he done wrong

by Gene Autry and Smiley Burnett

When evening chores are over at the ranch house on the plains
And there's nothing left to do but lay around
I saddle up my pony and go riding down the trail
Just to watch the desert sun go down

CHORUS:
White faced cattle lowing, sagebrush everywhere
Granite spires are standing all around
I'll tell you folks it's heaven to go ridin' down the trail
Just to watch the desert sun go down

Ridin' down the canyon to watch the sun go down
A picture that no artist 'ere could paint
Cactus plants are bloomin' on the mountain side
I hear a coyote calling to its mate

CHORUS

CHORUS

When evening chores are over at the ranch house on the plains
And there's nothing left to do but lay around
I saddle up my pony and go riding down the trail
Just to watch the desert sun go down

CHORUS

My name is Juanano de Castro
My father was a Spanish Grandee
But I won my wife in a card game
To hell with those lords o'er the sea

Well the South Coast is wild coast and lonely
You might win in a game at Cholon
But a lion still rules the Barranca
And a man there is always alone

I played in a card game at Jolon
I played there with an outlaw named Juan
And after I'd taken his money
I staked all against his daughter Dawn

I picked up the ace...l had won her
My heart it was down at my feet
Jumped up to my throat in a hurry
Like a young summer's day she was sweet

He opened the door to the kitchen
And he called the girl out with a curse
Saying "Take her, Goddamn her, you've won her
She's yours now for better or worse"

Her arms had to tighten around me
As we rode down the hills to the south
Not a word did I hear from her that day
Nor a kiss from her pretty young mouth

But that was a gay happy winter
We carved on a cradle of pine
By the fire in that neat little cabin
And I sang with that gay wife of mine

Well the South Coast is wild coast and lonely
You might win in a game at Cholon
But a lion still rules the Barranca
And a man there is always alone

That night I got hurt in a landslide
Crushed hip and twice broken bone
She saddled her pony like lightning
And rode off for the doctor in Cholon

The lion screamed in the Barranca
Buck, he bolted and he fell on his side
My young wife lay dead in the moonlight
My heart died that night with my bride

Well the South Coast is wild coast and lonely
You might win in a game at Cholon
But a lion still rules the Barranca
And a man there is always alone

arranged and adapted by Arlo Guthrie

The Missouri, she's a might river
Away you rolling river
The red man's camp lies on her borders
Away, we're bound away across the wide
Missouri

A white man loved an Indian maiden
Away you rolling river
With notions sweet his canoe was laden
Away, we're bound away across the wide
Missouri

O Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Away you rolling river
I'll take her 'cross the rolling water
Away, we're bound away across the wide
Missouri

The chief disdained the trader's dollars
Away you rolling river
My daughter never you shall follow
Away, we're bound away across the wide
Missouri

At last there came a Yankee skipper
Away you rolling river
He winked his eye, and he tipped his flipper
Away, we're bound away across the wide
Missouri

He sold the chief that fire-water
Away you rolling river
And 'cross the river he stole his daughter
Away, we're bound away across the wide
Missouri

O Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Away you rolling river
Across the wide and rolling water
Away, we're bound away across the wide
Missouri

arranged and adapted by Arlo Guthrie

I struck the trail in seventy-nine
The herd strung out behind me
As I jogged along my mind went back
To the gal I left behind

If I ever get off the trail, boys
And the Indians don't find me
I'll make my way straight back again
To the gal I left behind me

CHORUS:
That sweet little gal, that true little gal
The gal I left behind me
That sweet little gal, that pretty little gal
The gal I left behind me

The wind did blow and the rain did flow
The hail did fall and blind me
And I thought of that gal, that sweet little gal
That gal I'd left behind me

She wrote ahead to a place I said
And I was glad to find it
She says "I'm true, when you get through
Ride back and you will find me"

CHORUS

When we sold out I took the train
I knew that I would find her
When I got back, we had a smack
And that's no gol-darned liar

CHORUS

words and music by Jimmy Rodgers

Cattle prowl and the coyotes howl
Out on the Great Divide
Never done no wrong, just singin' a song
As down the trail I ride

Rattle snakes rattle at the prairie dogs
You can hear that mournful tune
'Cause it's round-up time, a-way out west
When the cactus is in bloom
Yodel...

CHORUS
Daylight comes and the cowhands yell
They call out every man
Throw my saddle on my old cow horse
I drink my coffee from a can
The sun goes down on the cattle trail
And I'm gazin' at the moon
'Cause it's round-up time, a-way out west
When the cactus is in bloom
Yodel . . .

Now we don't have cold weather
It never snows or rains
This is where the sun shines best
Out on the western plains
Some of the boys are gone away
But they will be back soon
'Cause it's round-up time, a-way out west
When the cactus is in bloom
Yodel...

CHORUS

words and music by Woody Guthrie

While we're on the subject of hard work, I just wanted
to say that I always was a man to work.

I was born working and I worked my way up by hard
work. I ain't never got nowhere yet but I got there by
hard work.

Work of the hardest kind. I been down and I been out
and I've been busted, disgusted and couldn't be trusted.

I worked my way up and I worked my way down. I've
been drunk and I've been sober. I've had hard times
and I got hijacked and been robbed for cash and robbed
on credit.

Worked my way into jail and outta jail and I woke up
a lotta mornings and I didn't even know where I was at.

But the hardest work I ever done is when I was trying
to get myself a worried woman to ease my worried
mind.

Now I'm gonna tell you just about how much hard
work I had to do to get this here woman that I'm a-tellin'
you about.

I shook hands with 97 of her kinfolks and her blood
relatives and I done the same with 86 people that was
just her friends and her neighbors.

Kissed 73 babies and put dry pants on 34 of 'em, as well
as others, and done the When thing several times, as well
as a lot of other things just about like this.

I held 125 head of wild horses, put saddles and bridles
on more than that, harnessed some of the craziest,
wildest teams in the whole country. I rode 14 loco
broncos to a dead standstill and let 42 hound dogs lick
me all over.

7 times I was bit by hungry dogs and I was chewed
all to pieces by water moccasins and rattlesnakes on
2 separate river bottoms.

I chopped and I carried 314 arm loads of stoved
wood; 100 buckets of coal, and I carried a gallon of
kerosene 18 miles and lost a good pair of shoes in a
mud hole.

And I chopped and I weeded 48 rows of short cotton,
13 acres of bad corn and cut the sticker weeds out of
11 back yards, all on account a 'cause I wanted to
show her that I was a man and I liked to work

I cleaned out 9 barnloads, and cranked 31 automobiles,
all makes and models, pulled 3 cars out of mud
holes and 4 out of snowdrifts.

I dug 5 cisterns of water for some of her friends and
neighbors and run all kinds of errands.

I played the fiddle for 9 church meetings and I joined
11 separate denominations. I signed up and joined
up for 7 of the best trade unions I could find and paid
my dues about 6 weeks ahead of time, waded 40
miles of swamps, 60 big rivers, walked across 2
mountain ranges and crossed 3 deserts.

I got the fever and I got the sun stroke and I got the
malaria and I got the flu and I got moonstruck and
skeeter bit, the poison ivy and the 7 year itch and the
blind staggers.

I was given up for lost and dead about 2 dozen times.
Struck by lightning, struck by Congress, struck
by friends and kinfolks, as well as by 3 cars on
the highways and a lotta times in peoples'
henhouses.

I been hit and run down and run over and
walked on and knocked around and I'm just
settin' here now trying to study up what else I
can do to show that woman that I still ain't afraid
of hard work.

arranged and adapted by Arlo Guthrie

I ride an old paint, I lead an old dan
I'm goin' to Montana to throw the hoolihan
They feed in the coulees, they water in the draw
Their tails are all matted, their backs are all raw

CHORUS:
Ride around little dogies, ride around them slow
For the fiery and snuffy are rarin' to go

Old Bill Jones had a daughter and a son
One went to college, the other went wrong
His wife, she got killed in a poolroom fight
But still he's a-singin' from mornin' till night

CHORUS

When I die, take my saddle from the wall
Place it on my old pony, lead him out of his stall
Tie my bones to my saddle and turn our faces to the West
And we'll ride the prairie we love the best

CHORUS

I ride an old paint, I lead an old dan
I'm goin' to Montana to throw the hoolihan
They feed in the coulees, they water in the draw
Their tails are all matted, and their backs are all raw

CHORUS

arranged and adapted by Arlo Guthrie

So you ask me my kind friend
Why I am sad and still
And why my brow is darkened
Like the clouds upon the hill

Rein in your ponies closer
And I'll tell you all a tale
Of Utah Carroll, partner
And his last ride on the trail

In a grave without a headstone
Without a date or name
My partner lies there silent
In the land from which I came

Long ago we rode together
We'd ridden side by side
I loved him like a brother
And I wept when Utah died

While riding up one morning
And our work was almost done
The cattle quickly started
On a wild and maddening run

The boss's little daughter
Who was riding on that side
Rushed in to stop the stampede
It was there my partner died

Lenore upon her pony
Tried to turn the cattle right
But her blanket slipped beneath her
And she caught and held on tight

When we all saw that red blanket
Each cowboy held his breath
For should her pony fail her
None could save the girl from death

When the cattle saw the blanket
Almost dragging on the ground
They were maddened in a moment
And they charged with deafening sound

The girl soon saw her danger
And she turned her pony's face
And bending in her saddle
Tried the blanket to replace

Just then she lost her balance
In the front of that wild tide
Carroll's voice controlled the round up
"Lie still, Lenore" he cried

And then close up beside her
Came Utah riding fast
But little did the poor boy know
The ride would be his last

Full often from the saddle
He had caught the trailing rope
To pick her up at full speed
Was now his only hope

He swung low from his saddle
To take her to his arm
We thought that he'd succeeded
That the girl was safe from harm

But such a strain upon his saddle
Had ne'er been put before
And the cinches gave beneath him
And he fell beside Lenore

When the girl fell from her saddle
She had dragged the blanket down
It lay there close beside them
Where they lay upon the ground

Utah took the blanket
And to Lenore he said
"Lie still" and quickly running
Waved the red thing o'er his head

He turned the maddened cattle
From Lenore, his little friend
And as the mighty herd rushed toward him
He turned to met his end

And as the herd came on him
His weapon quickly drew
He was bound to die defended
As all brave cowboys do

The weapon flashed like lightning
And it sounded loud and clear
As the cattle rushed and killed him
He dropped the leading steer

When I broke through that wide circle
To where poor Utah lay
With a thousand wounds and bruises
His life blood ebbed away

I knelt down close beside him
And I knew that all was o'er
As I heard him faintly whisper
"Good-bye, my sweet Lenore"

Next morning at the churchyard
I heard the preacher say
"Don't think our kind friend Utah
Was lost on that great day

He was a much-loved cowboy
And not afraid to die
And we'll meet him at the round up
On the plains beyond the sky"

So you ask me my kind friend
Why I am sad and still
And why my brow is darkened
Like the clouds upon the hill

Rein in your ponies closer
And I'll tell you all a tale
Of Utah Carroll, partner
And his last ride on the trail

arranged and adapted by Arlo Guthrie

From this valley they say you are going
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For they say you are taking the sunshine
That has brightened our pathways awhile

CHORUS:
Come and sit by my side, if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
Just remember the Red River Valley
And the cowboy who loved you so true

I've been thinking a long time, my darling
Of the sweet words you never would say
Now, alas, must my fond hopes all vanish
For they say you are gong away

Do you think of the valley you're leaving
O how lonely and how dreary it will be
And do you think of the kind hearts you're breaking
And the pain you are causing to me

CHORUS
They will bury me where you have wandered
Near the hills where the daffodils grow
When you're gone from the Red River Valley
For I can't live without you I know

CHORUS