WHAT’S A MAN GOT TO DO

Then meet me in McCall
And make it early fall
Bring a good horse and a rifle and that’s all
We’ll ride the golden aspen trail
‘Neath timber dark and tall
So meet me in McCall
In the early fall

Thought I heard your voice
Out on the oak brush rim
Cold rush upon my face
But it was just the wind
And a bugle down the draw
From somewhere in the pines
Like twenty years ago
Branded on my mind

Somewhere above McCall
And it was early fall
Good horses and our rifles and that’s all
We rode the golden aspen trail
‘Neath timber dark and tall
Somewhere above McCall
In the early fall

And I wish I could disappear
Every now and then
Not a day goes by that I don’t wish you were here
So I could tell you once again

To meet me in McCall
And make it early fall
Bring a good horse and a rifle and that’s all
We’ll ride the golden aspen trail
‘Neath timber dark and tall
So meet me in McCall
In the early fall
Meet me in McCall

But baby caffeine, caffeine
Pour me a cup of that gasoline
Caffeine, caffeine
Tonight I’m flyin’ lean and mean
And it’s killin’ me, savin’ me, or somewhere in between
But I’m like a machine
On caffeine

When the white lines start to fade
My eyes get heavy as lead
And it feels like a hundred days
Since I last saw my bed
I’m lookin’ for that neon sign like an angel in the night
To help me lose these old highway blues
‘Til the mornin’ light

It’s caffeine, caffeine
Pour me a cup of that gasoline
Caffeine, caffeine
Tonight I’m flyin’ lean and mean
And its killin’ me, savin’ me, or somewhere in between
But I’m like a machine
On caffeine

Take it hot, take it cold
Swallow it in a pill
I’ll be back out on the road
Just as soon as I get my fill

Caffeine, caffeine
Pour me a cup of that gasoline
Caffeine, caffeine
Tonight I’m flyin’ lean and mean
And its killin’ me, savin’ me, or somewhere in between
But I’m like a machine
I’m flyin’ lean and mean, baby
I’m like a machine
On caffeine

Now a hundred years gone by you still can see their sign
Way out on the Boulder Road that leads down to the old mine
I came for the first time when I was just sixteen
Now twenty years have passed and I’m still just a refugee

‘Cause I feel somethin’ when I ride that rocky trail
I hear voices in the tall dark pines
And I don’t feel nothin’ when I drive these city streets
So I think I’ll leave this city behind
And head for the onyx mine

Father told the story about drivin’ that old road
In a 1941 Ford the day after it snowed
A downed-log through the fender and a busted-out headlamp
By the early mornin’ light they made it to the old mine camp

When my world turns dark and cold and the gold in life don’t shine
I gather up my family and we head up to the old mine
We sit around a campfire and look up at the full white moon
And listen to the coyote howl an old ghost miner’s tune

‘Cause I feel somethin’ when I ride that rocky trail
I hear voices in the tall dark pines
And I don’t feel nothin’ when I drive these city streets
So I think I’ll leave this city behind
And head for the onyx mine
For the onyx mine

And they left him young
In a California rush
He was livin’ in the mesquite brush
When a rancher took him in
And he learned how to ride
With a lasso in his hand
He rode for the Leventhal brand
In the cold West Kansas wind

But the world it can be hard on a Cherokee’s son
Learnin’ how the west was lost and won

And Buffalo Brogan
Hard as the Gyp Hill stone
You were born to ride alone
And your name will carry well
Just a castaway
‘Til Mother Nature took you in
There’s a lesson that I spin in the story that I tell

Just a rancher’s daughter
Pretty as a full white moon
Born with a silver spoon
Tom Leventhal’s only girl
And she fell in love
With that half-blood Cherokee hand
Half devil and half man
They fit together like a hand in a glove

Soft silhouette
Against a gold sun goin’ down
Of her legs through a cotton gown
It took him by surprise
He stood down off his mount
And he took her by the hand
And they fell to the Gyp Hill sand
‘Neath the troubled Kansas skies

And love was a taste he’d never known
Sweet as any loop he’d ever thrown

And Buffalo Brogan
Hard as the Gyp Hill stone
Got tired of bein’ alone
Livin’ in a cold dark shell
Got cast in her arms
And though he knew it was a sin
There’s a lesson that I spin in the story that I tell
She told her Mama ’bout the baby growin’ inside
She told Old Brogan he should run away and hide
But he said I love you and I’ll stay and make my stand
‘Cause I have been true to your Daddy and his brand

But the world it is so hard on a Cherokee’s son
Learnin’ how the west was lost and won

Now there’s a wanted sign
For a man named Buffalo
Most everywhere you go
From here to Oklahome
They say he pulled a knife
In a fight with Leventhal
He had his back up against a wall
Now he wanders all alone

And there’s a baby boy
With his Daddy’s cold dark eyes
Troubled as the Kansas skies
Tight against her breast
He’s the heir to the brand
And one day he’ll learn to ride
With his Mama by his side
The girl with no regrets

But the world it is so hard on a Cherokee’s son
Learnin’ how the west was lost and won

And Buffalo Brogan
Hard as the Gyp Hill stone
You were born to ride alone
And your name will carry well
You’re just a castaway
I pray Mother Nature takes you in
There’s a lesson that I spin in the story that I tell

Indian Summer days runnin’ from school
A green-eyed angel and a reckless fool
The taste of her lips and the sun on her cheeks
Were sweet as my memories of Sweetwater Beach

But I can’t go back and I can’t be still
I loved her then and I always will
I close my eyes and it’s just out of reach
Like the love we made on Sweetwater Beach

When you’re seventeen you’ve got nothin’ to lose
Just freedom to run and freedom to choose
And lessons that only love can teach
Siftin’ like sand on Sweetwater Beach

But I can’t go back and I can’t be still
I loved her then and I always will
I close my eyes and it’s just out of reach
Like the love we made on Sweetwater Beach

Innocence drifted on the soft warm breeze
Now it’s just a memory

There’s a blue lake shinin’ in my dreams tonight
Green eyes sparkle in the gold moonlight
And two young lovers run wild and free
Where the whitecaps break on Sweetwater Beach

But I can’t go back and I can’t be still
I loved her then and I always will
I close my eyes and it’s just out of reach
Like the love that we made on Sweetwater Beach
The love we made on Sweetwater Beach
Sweetwater Beach
Sweetwater Beach
Sweetwater Beach
Sweetwater Beach

There’s a Greyhound Station with a midnight ride
That’d take him back home before dawn
And he could pick up that phone and hear her voice on the line
And like a flash of wild lightnin’ be gone
But another bus leaves for Laredo at sunrise
As he fights back the tears fallin’ down from his blue eyes
He whispers her name and a prayer to get through
‘Cause he just don’t know what to do

It’s a hundred year story of struggle and strife
It’s the pain and the glory of every cowboy’s life
When there’s just enough money to ride or go home
You fall down for good or you get back on

There’s a chute flyin’ open down in Laredo Texas
The crowd comes alive with the rush
There’s a cowboy spinnin’ and a Brahma-cross buckin’
He’s ridin’ all out or bust
He’s fightin’ and spurrin’
They’re twistin’ and turnin’
And inside the fire it just keeps on burnin’
And he calls when it’s over to say I love you
But a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do

And I’ve got these sheep and cattle
They don’t seem like all that much
Ten thousand dusty acres of
That old gray-brown oak brush

It eats your chaps and saddle
And your tapaderos too
Puts a red burn on your face and hide
And scuff marks in your boots
It’s porcupines and falcons
And a brand new mule deer fawn
It was here before the day I came
It’ll be here when I’m gone

And these sheep and wild damn cattle
Don’t seem like all that much
For forty years of fightin’ through
That old gray-brown oak brush

But I don’t know where I’d be if I wasn’t here right now
A farmer in a valley cussin’ at my plow
Or in some damned old city starin’ at the wall
Up in a high rise building wishin’ it would fall
And I know my time’s a comin’
‘Though I ain’t in any rush
They’ll plant my bones six feet below
That old gray-brown oak brush
They’ll plant my bones six feet below
That old gray-brown oak brush

I forgot her birthday
And our anniversary
I spent all of our money
Buyin’ stuff for me
I told her I was sorry
But what could I say
She loves me anyway

Is it my cowboy charm
The muscles in my arm
Or the way that I look in my BVDs
Is it the jokes I tell
The way I scream and I yell
When she tries to watch one of her DVDs
Like Pretty Woman or Notting Hill

I didn’t make the bed
Left the seat up on the john
I drank all of the OJ
And the Lucky Charms are all gone
Last night I fell asleep
I thought I heard her say
I love you anyway
Honey I love you anyway

My partner William Pogue
He fell that day with me
A straight and honest lawman
As fair as he could be
His good name put on trial
We watched in disbelief
As the system we relied on
Set a killer all but free

But with every freedom comes
An even greater cost
The answer seldom easy
The question sometimes lost
For though our lives were shortened
Our work was not in vain
And given one more chance
I’d wear that badge again

Now many years gone by
Our families carry on
Though our lives have been lost
Our legacy grows strong
And every man must answer
For the things that he has done
We find our peace in knowing
The judgment day shall come

Convictions forged in campfires
For the work we live and breathe
Let the burden be to those
Who live farther on than me
The Owyhees to the Sawtooths
Let the Boise run its miles
And let our memory’s stand
For all that there lives wild…

For with every freedom comes
An even greater cost
The answer seldom easy
The question sometimes lost
For though our lives were shortened
Our work was not in vain
And given one more chance
I’d wear that badge again

Given one more chance
I’d wear that badge again

Down at the Casa Blanca
Cold Blue Hawaiians by the pool
Down at the Casa Blanca
Lovin’ and laughin’ like a fool
Baby all I really need
Is you lyin’ next to me
Down at the Casa Blanca
That’s where I want to be

Real life’s so unromantic
And the weather’s so damn cold
We run around here like we’re frantic
Doin’ only what we’re told
I kiss you goodbye in the mornin’
I’ll see you when the sun goes down
Let them take this as their warnin’
Find us at the lost and found

Down at the Casa Blanca
It’s a desert paradise
Down at the Casa Blanca
Pour our troubles over ice
Beneath the Virgin River sun
Just like two lovers on the run
Down at the Casa Blanca
I think it’s time we have some fun

Down at the Casa Blanca
Cold Blue Hawaiians by the pool
Down at the Casa Blanca
Lovin’ and laughin’ like a fool
‘Cause baby all I’ll ever need
Is that one sweet memory
Down at the Casa Blanca
That’s where I want to be
Down at the Casa Blanca

‘Cause I’m in debt up to my nose
I make a lot of money but I don’t know where it goes
My friends they look at me and they think I’m doin’ fine
But I take my paycheck and send it on down the line
‘Cause I’m in debt
I’m only 29

Well I kiss my wife ev’ry mornin’ and I watch her drive away
And there ain’t no time for lovin’ when you got big bills to pay
But she sure looks sexy drivin’ in her luxury sedan
Just last night she told me she wants to have a baby again

Now we’re in debt up to my nose
I make a lot of money but I don’t know where it goes
My friends they look at me and they think I’m doin’ fine
But I take my paycheck and send it on down the line
‘Cause I’m in debt
I’m only 29

I think a lot of folks are livin’ just like me
Waitin’ for the day they can break free

From all this debt – it’s up to my nose
I make a lot of money but I don’t know where it goes
And my friends they look at me and they think I’m doin’ fine
But I take my paycheck and send it on down the line
‘Cause I’m in debt
I’m only 29
Yeah I’m in debt
I think I’m fallin’ behind

When all the girls in rodeo town
Heard that he had fallen down
You could almost hear the sound
Of them fallin’ to their knees
The way night falls through the trees

There was a full moon shinin’ bright
Down at the old fairground one night
Breakin’ out of chute #1 was that old gray line-back dun
The only bronc that Jeremiah never won

You couldn’t hear a single breath
Eight seconds was all he had left
The one that threw him to his death
Saw the crowd one more time

And I was only nine years old
Still I shivered in that cold
For I knew that he had sold his soul
And left the rest of us behind
Like beggars in the welfare line

Then they turned out all the lights
Down at the old fairground that night
The gate shut like the bullet of a gun
On that old gray line-back dun
The only bronc that Jeremiah never won

There were tears of joy and pain
They’d never see that bronc again
They’d never see the boy he killed
Though I believe he’s ridin’ still

And where that old gray dun is now
Nobody ever talks about
But I think about him when they turn me out
And my spurs sink in again
When I ride I ride for him

When there’s a full moon shinin’ bright
And it hits the old fairground just right
Breakin’ out of chute #1
It’s Jeremiah and that old gray dun
The only bronc he never won

I’ve seen seventy-one years through an old trail hosses’ ears
And I’ll tell you son that’s livin’ well
And I’ll lead my pack string
Straight through the gaping jaws of hell

Take you to the badlands down in South Dakoteo
And I’ll tell you ’bout the good old days of the rodeo
Or take you to the grand land north west of Codyo
Leave behind your cell phone and your radio

‘Cause there’s nothin’ to fear
God lives up here
And I’ll tell you son He’s livin’ well
Leadin’ me and my pack string
Straight through the gaping jaws of hell

Tell me I got cancer
Here’s your answer
Black cowboy coffee ’round the fire
This old mustang runs on pure desire

I’ve seen seventy-one years through an old trail hosses’ ears
And I’ll tell you son that’s livin’ well
And I’ll lead my pack string
Straight through the gaping jaws of hell
Yeah I’ll lead my pack string
Straight through the gaping jaws of hell

Son this is where you separate
The cowboys from the men
Hard times have come before
And they’re gonna come again
So you can turn that horse and ride back home
And wait until it ends
Or just grit your teeth, bow your head
And ride into the wind

He said it’s Man and Mother Nature
She tells us who we are
The strength to keep on ridin’
It’s a never-ending war
And the right thing’s never easy
And the good don’t always win
But it’s the memories of days like this
That you cherish in the end

It’s times like these you separate
The cowboys from the men
Hard times have come before
And they’re gonna come again
So you can turn that horse and ride back home
And wait until it ends
Or just grit your teeth, bow your head
And ride into the wind

And as I watched him ride away
Headlong into the storm
I think I finally figured out what we were ridin’ for
So I turned up my own collar
Pushed down my hat and then
I took a deep seat in my saddle
And spurred on into the wind

It’s times like these you separate
The cowboys from the men
Hard times have come before
And they’re gonna come again
So you can turn that horse and ride back home
And wait until it ends
Or just grit your teeth, bow your head
And ride into the wind

Like a baby when he smiles
For the first time in his life
Cradled gently in the arms
Of my beautiful wife
Growin’ stronger by the day
And the change that every morning brings
He is here but for a while
To learn to love the simple things

And it’s so easy to lose track
And never take the time to see
All the simple things we have
Are gifts from God for you and me

Like the memories we share
Years and miles cannot erase
Like the sound of your sweet voice
Like the smile on your face
Like the promise of tomorrow
In a land where freedom rings
We are here but for a while
To learn to love the simple things
Learn to love the simple things