DEEPER THAN MUD

Frost on the wheat grass
Frost on the sage
Frost on the aspen leaves
Steam on the lake

The blue autumn sky is turnin’ colder by the day
Its time to get this roundup party underway
So buckle on your leggings get your saddle cinched up tight
For the roundup fire burns tonight

Cattle on the skyline
Cattle through the trees
Riders close behind them
And freedom on the breeze

This way of life is gettin’ older by the day
Its time to get this roundup party underway
So resin up your ropes and spur your pony quick and light
For the roundup fire burns tonight

I spent the summer waitin’ workin’ on the land
I’ll spend the winter waitin’ for the time to brand

And I’ll spend a lifetime
Ridin’ through the sage
Its burnin’ in my blood
There is no other way

You can call me crazy say whatever you will say
But its time to get this roundup party underway
So buckle on your leggings get your saddle cinched up tight
For the roundup fire burns tonight
Yeah the roundup fire burns tonight

I said goodbye to the state line of Wyoming
And four hundred miles of friends along the way
I know tomorrow I’ll wake up feelin’ lonesome
‘Cause there’s a part of me that’s wishin’ I could stay
From the sage of Cheyenne on up north to Cody
I’ve drifted like a rollin’ tumbleweed
And a thousand pair of eyes and smiles that know me
Are cryin’ every time I turn to leave

And though I’ve heard New Mexico is magical
Chicago town can make you fall in love again
You can keep your beaches in Hawaii
I’ll take the Wyoming Wind

Sometimes I dream of life out on the range
Pushin’ cattle ‘cross the Great Divide
And every time I smell that springtime sage
I get this wild feelin’ deep inside
And I long to be where I can see the mountains
Stretchin’ ‘cross that never-ending sky
Or standin’ on the banks along the mighty Bighorn River
Listenin’ to the water roll on by

And though I’ve heard the sun sets over California
The Smoky Mountains seem like an old friend
You can keep your dusty Texas plains
I’ll take the Wyoming wind

Can you hear that lonesome coyote howlin’
I think I know just how he feels

Because it’s down the road and far from here I wander
But I know I’ll be comin’ back again
‘Cause all I am and all I ever hope to be
Is somewhere in that Wyoming wind
Somewhere in that Wyoming wind

I smell it a little bit
In the air tonight
I feel it a little bit on the wind
I turn my collar up
For the evenin’ ride
Sad to see the summer’s gone again

CHORUS:
But tonight it’s more than autumn
Chillin’ in my blood
And tonight it’s more than summer
Goin’ down and gettin’ gone
For tonight I feel a loneliness
Deeper than the mud
And I feel the fall comin’ on

There wasn’t anything different
In the way she said goodbye
But it was somethin’ missin’ in her kiss
Somethin’ turned cold
When she looked me in the eye
And I shivered like an aspen in the whisper of the wind

CHORUS

And I could fight like a warm wind blowin’ on the breeze
Driftin’ like our summer memories
But a cold rain starts a blizzard that goes blowin’ through the leaves
That keep fallin’ like me

So I’ll keep my eye
To the western sky
Try to find shelter from the rain
And hope that she believes
That I believe her when she lies
Make my getaway before the pain rushes in

CHORUS

And I feel the fall comin’ on
And I feel the fall comin’ on

Muddy boots and slammin’ chutes
Lyin’ in the dust of old Cheyenne
Just another day
Gettin’ on and gettin’ gone
He’s gonna make the next go-round any way he can
He’s sure it’s gonna pay

And though he plays an old guitar
And he writes a song or two
He don’t think he’s Johnny Cash and he don’t want you to
He’s just a workin’ man
Doin’ the best he can

CHORUS:
And we gotta hold it on the road
‘Cause these old hills are gettin’ higher
We gotta hold it on the road
‘Cause these old eyes are gettin’ tired
So saddle up it’s time to go
Man we just keep gettin’ older
Just another rodeo
Just another cowboy show
We gotta hold it on the road

I write country songs about the rights and wrongs
And the broken hearts healin’ up on the old dance floor
In three-quarter time
Swingin’ doors and sawdust floors
And every night’s the same as the one before
I never save a dime

And though I love the rodeo
And my cowboy hat and boots
I don’t think I’m Casey Tibbs and I don’t want you to
I’m just a workin’ man
Doin’ the best I can

CHORUS

Just another rodeo
Just another cowboy show
We gotta hold it on the road

Where the water is clear as a river runnin’ down from heaven
And the air is pure as a midnight sky
And the moonbeams dance like a gypsy woman to the music
Through the timber swayin’ as the wind goes by

There’s a part of me that might stay here forever
But I must follow this voice inside my heart
And I don’t know how but I know I was born to wander
I follow that one bright shinin’ star

Down a highway callin’ like a dancin’ gypsy girl
To another corner of the world
I find another corner of the world

It’s a buckaroo spirit it’s the feelin’ of forever
To go fadin’ into that distant blue
And once you hear it you know you can turn back never
‘Cause this road becomes a part of you

If I roam too far know that I’ll love you forever
I leave a little piece of my heart
And I don’t know how but I know I was born to wander
I follow that one bright distant star

Down a highway callin’ like a dancin’ gypsy girl
To another corner of the world
I find another corner of the world

Well I can’t stay long ’cause this road rolls on forever
But I will always come back where you are
And I don’t know how but I know I was born to wander
I follow that one bright northern star

Down a highway callin’ like a dancin’ gypsy girl
To another corner of the world
I find another corner of the world
I find another corner of the world

Around the rim on Cottonwood
There stands a cedar shack
And a pole corral to pen a bronc
And a shed to hang your khack
Beneath the peak of lodgepoles
Between an aspen stand
Behind the crest of cedars
That stretch the broken land
Between the sage and the timber
Where cattle often hide
Where I ride to each December to curl up inside
And look up at the windy peaks
And feel the fire’s glow
Then trot out through the morning
‘Cross the dusted winter snow
Around the rim on Cottonwood
A brand new lion track
That dots a line up through the draw
And slowly circles back
Where somewhere in the bitter night
He drifted like a spirit
Beyond the realm of vision
Not I nor horse could hear it
But yet the proof that there he crept
Cut fresh into the snow
And still I shiver at the thought
Of where and why he goes
Around the rim on Cottonwood
Where deep the canyon cuts
Into the mountain’s very bowels
Its twisted winding guts
The frozen rivers down below
And warm springs on the hill
At minus seventeen and more
The water’s running still
And running deep are shadows now
For day does not stay long
Soon the full moon rises high
And I can hear the song of one lonely coyote
Singing farewell to the sun
Sending out the call that finally evening time has come
Around the rim on Cottonwood
My fire’s burning down
My cabin warm
My ride was good
My sleep is sweet and sound

‘Tis the age of the educated cowboy
Though it ain’t the wage of an educated man
And you can change Cowography a thousand ways
But you can never change this jagged land

‘Tis the place where the past and the future collide
Computers weigh the heifer in the pen
But the squeakin’ of the leather beneath me as I ride
Gets me longin’ for the good old days again

CHORUS:
And just another day
Over Deseret
And you can tell me how but I’ll punch these cows my own way
I don’t need a PHD to tell me when the sun will rise and fade
Over Deseret

‘Tis the way that the wind blows through the aspen
And the freedom of an endless sky and range
And when it comes to movin’ on I’ll be the last one
But then again I guess that some things never change

CHORUS

Well it’s hard to find a night horse
That one sure-footed right horse
To ride a cowboy safely through the dark
The finest one I ever rode
Was a short-leg bay named Little Joe
When I signed on with this outfit in South Park
Well the night was still and the moon went down
Through the herd there was not a sound
That’s the time an old hand knows a cow might run
Sure enough they jumped and ran
Went crashin’ through the smooth strand
And twenty buckaroos knew what was to come

CHORUS:
They’re runnin’ boys, they’re runnin’
You all go run along
Don’t try to turn ’em back ’til they tire
Just let ’em run their course
Turn it over to your night horse
Let him bring you back on home to the fire

Well a lot of things that night happened
That later got us laughin’
‘Though in the moment we were all strung out pretty tight
Joe Petty thought a clump of chimeeza
Was a bedded down herd of cows
So he circled around ’em singin’ ’til daylight
Then his night horse stolen by the cook
Old Bill Jim got set afoot
Cussin’ out that cook as they rode away
But they didn’t go far and they had a bad wreck
Bill’s horse died of a broken neck
And the cook stumbled through the night in a daze

CHORUS

Well it’s gopher holes and steep ravines
That in the night cannot be seen
So he must use somethin’ other than his eyes
Whatever birds fly south on
I guess that’s what he counts on
Little Joe could carry me through to sunrise

CHORUS

Just let ’em run their course
Turn it over to your night horse
Let him bring you back on home to the fire

Apache mama gave her up when she was three weeks old
She didn’t have a dime or any other place to go
So some white folks came and took her away to a house up on the hill
Now a little girl won’t remember what the Reservation will

CHORUS:
Now she’s livin’ in a white man’s world
As a white man’s little girl
But when she looks in the mirror she don’t know how to feel
‘Cause she’s pretty as a blood red rose
And I wonder if she’ll ever know
What a little girl won’t remember is what a Reservation will

They taught her all about freedom and the good old USA
They put her up in curlers and told her all the right things to say
And what she really don’t know can’t hurt her like the past ain’t really real
‘Cause a little girl won’t remember what a Reservation will

CHORUS

They can’t hide forever and I wonder if they know
They can’t change the color of her soul
Even though

CHORUS

We have gathered here tonight
A meeting of the heart and the mind
The answer clearly in sight
We must leave this world behind

For I believe there’s land that a man has never seen
Where the mountains reach the never-ending sky
Where the waters in the rivers are still deep and pure and clean
And you can still see the eagle as she flies

CHORUS:
Somewhere beyond the edge of the world
Farther than any man has dreamed
Where the grass is deep and green and a life of wandering
Is waiting there beyond the edge of the world

We have all that we will need
For our journey through the sky
And once our spirits are free
The rest is up to you and I

And we will ride like a ranger on this very last frontier
Where the mountains kiss the never-ending sky
Where the waters in the rivers are still deep and pure and clear
And you can feel like the eagle as she flies

CHORUS

And if only in our dreams
We will remember all the country we have seen

CHORUS

Is waiting there beyond the edge of the world

Ten wheels, one road, and five hundred miles
One horse, one saddle, and five thousand smiles

CHORUS:
You better keep it on the highway
And hold it on the road
You’re a high rollin’ cowboy
Ridin’ to the rodeo

There’s a lot of girls, a lot of money and a whole lot of fame
It’s a dirty job but you gotta do it, man ain’t it a shame

CHORUS

Some people wake up in the same town every day
Drive to an office and they’d die to get away
Same people turn their head ’cause they don’t understand
The ramblin’ spirit of a rodeo man

So saddle up, time to ride, time to turn out that steer
And fuel the fire that’s burnin’ inside and then get the hell on outta here

CHORUS

The star of the rodeo
Legend of the rodeo

We laid poor Sammy to his rest
Dug a deep hole and did our best
To say the right thing as we knocked the dirt from the shovel
So far from God and so near to a life of trouble

No more than a boy when he died like a man
We stood around his grave with our hats in our hand
Leanin’ first on one foot and then on the other
Wishin’ we’d a knowed what to say to write to his mother

CHORUS:
But there ain’t much to say when a man dies young
Before he can do what he should have done
Leastways the cowboys that knowed him swore
Sammy done his damnedest
Angels can do no more

We stared at our boots and nobody spoke
‘Til the trail boss coughed, cleared his throat
And said to the cook, “Tear a plank off the chuckwagon
And bring it here to mark the grave of our young companion.”

So the wranglers made a fire out of dry prairie coal
The wind fanned the flames ’til the brandin’ iron glowed
Then we burned in the wood the words we should’ve been sayin’
Down on our knees like a bunch of growed men prayin’

CHORUS

Sammy rode hard and never complained
Two long years on the Rockin’ Chair range
Chasin’ them steers down the salt fork of the Red River
Angels’ and cowboys’ work goes on forever

And as for myself when it’s my time to die
I hope there’s a cowhand or two standin’ by
To pack down the dirt and carry the news to the family
And say over me what we should’ve said over Sammy

CHORUS

CHORUS

Sammy done his damnedest
Angels can do no more

When the sun sets down and the shadows rise
And the wind has wandered home
And the song of sleep pulls on your eyes
I shall set out alone
Along the trapper’s trail we’ll trot
Up to the timberline
Through glow upon the snow that’s brought
Fluorescent by moonshine
Across the snow-blue snowshoe flats
Until the trail goes thin
To check the line of coyote traps
Along the rocky rim
The rim where they each stop to cry
Their sighs into the dark
Across the valleys far and wide
‘Tis winter’s meadowlark
And I can hear one calling now
From somewhere further on
So empty does it drift
And how his chorus carries on
The sound that sometimes even I
Will welcome as a friend
The mournful dead cold cry that sometimes
Tests the wits of men
Along the rim we wander
By the light of stars and moon
And time not ours to squander
For the day is rising soon
As here atop the palest ridge
We stop to watch the dawn
The glow above the Eastern Ledge
Says soon the night is gone
And gone am I
Along the draw
Before the shadows fade
And confident that no one saw
The midnight ride I made
Just tracks along the trapper’s trail
And two coyotes less to wail