Lyr. Add: THE HORSE WRANGLER or The Tenderfoot
Jules Verne Allen text

I went out west to have some fun,
To see how punchin' cows was done,
and when the round ups had begun
I bonnered a cattle King.

He says my foreman is down in town
He's at the Plaza, his name is Brown,
Now you see him and he'll take you down
Says I that's just the thing.

Brown he took me down next day;
And he augered with me all the way;
He said all I had to do was ride;
Just like drifting with the tide.
But the son-of-gun, oh how he lied;
He surely had his gall.
He put me in charge of a cavyard
With a hundred and fifty head to guard;
And all I had to do was guard
The horses from getting away.

Some times a pony he would break,
And across the prairie he would take,
Some times I couldn't head 'em at all,
Down comes wrangler horse and all
But that's the way they do.

They cut me out an old white rack,
That had two set-fasts on his back,
They padded him up with a gunny sack
And took my bedding all;
When I got on he left the ground
Went into the air and whirled around,
Then I come down with an awful sound;
It was a terrible fall.

They picked me up and carried me in
And rubbed me down with a rollin' pin.
"That's the way they all begin,
And you're doin' fine, says Brown.
"And if tomorrow you don't die
I'll have another for you to try.
"Oh, can't I walk," says I to Brown.
"Yes, back to town, says Brown.

I've rambled up and I've rambled down,
I've rambled the whole wide world around;
I've lived in cities and I've lived (in) towns,
And I've got this much to say:
'For try cowpunching just kiss your wife
Take out a policy on your life,
Then cut your throat with a butcher knife,
For it's far the easier way.

With score, pp. 89-90, Jules Verne Allen, 1935, "Cowboy Lore," The Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas.
Jules Verne Allen was known as the "Original Singing Cowboy," title copyright by RCA-Victor and Southern Music Publishing Company.