DESERT BLUES
As recorded by Jimmie Rodgers, 1929.

'Way out on the windswept desert, where nature favors no man,
The buffalo found his brother at rest on the sun-baked sand.
He said: "My brother, what ails you? Has sickness got you this way?"
But his brother never said, for his brother was dead, been dead since 'way last May.
[Yodel]

Here's to Chief Big Buffalo Nickel, a mighty man in his day,
Never once used a sickle to clear the bushes away.
He would go round from tent to tent, eat ev'rything in sight.
He loved a squaw, ev'ry one he saw; he loved a new one ev'ry night.
[Yodel]

Last night on the windswept desert, I heard a big Indian moan.
I left my tent; I knew what it meant, and I swore I'd never more roam.
It was dawn when I reached safety; my legs were certainly sore.
I must have lost fifty pounds on the hot desert ground and I'd lose that many more.
[Yodel]


[Cliff Carlisle recorded almost identical lyrics in 1931.]