Lyr. Add: LONE STAR TRAIL
(John A. Lomax, 1910, 1925)

I'm a rowdy cowboy, just off the stormy plains,
My trade is girting saddles and pulling bridle reins.
Oh, I can tip the lasso it is with graceful ease;
I rope a streak of lightning, and ride it where I please.
My bosses they all like me, they say I'm hard to beat;
I give them the bold standoff, you bet I have got the cheek.
I always work for wages, my pay I get in gold;
I am bound to follow the longhorn steer until I am too old.

Chorus-
Ci yi yip yip pe ya.

2
I am a Texas cowboy and I do ride the range;
My trade is cinches ans saddles and ropes and bridle reins;
With Stetson hat and jingling spurs and leather up to the knees,
Gray backs as big as chili beans and fighting like hell with fleas.
And if I had a little stake, I soon would married be,
But another week and I must go, the boss said so to-day.
My girl must cheer up courage and choose some other one,
For I am bound to follow the Lone Star Trail until my race is run.
Cho-
3
It almost breaks my heart for to have to go away,
And leave my own little darling, my sweetheart so far away.
But when I'm out on the Lone Star trail often I'll think of thee,
Of my own dear girl, the darling one, the one I would like to see.
And when I get to a shipping point, I'll get on a little spree
To drive away the sorrow for the girl that once loved me.
And though red licker stirs us up we're bound to have our fun,
And I intend to follow the Lone Star Trail until my race is run.
Cho.
4
I went up the Lone Star Trail in eithteen eithty-three;
I fell in love with a pretty miss and she in love with me.
"When you get to Kansas write and let me know;
And if you get in trouble, your bail I'll come and go."
When I got up in Kansas, I had a pleasant dream;
I dreamed I was down on Trinity, down on that pleasant stream;
I dreampt my true love right beside me, she come to go my bail;
I woke up broken hearted with a yearling by the tail.
Cho.
5
In came my jailer about nine o'clock,
A bunch of keys were in his hand, my cell door to unlock,
Saying, "Cheer up, my prisoner, I heard some voice say
You're bound to hear your sentence some time today."
In came my mother about ten o'clock,
Saying, "O my loving Johnny, what sentence have you got?"
"The jury found me guilty and the judge a-standin' by
Has sent me down to Huntsville to lock me up and die."
Cho-
6
Down come the jailer, just about eleven o'clock,
With a bunch of keys all in his hand the cell doors to unlock,
Saying. "Cheer up, my prisoner, I heard the jury say
Just ten long years in Huntsville you're bound to go and stay."
Down come my sweetheart, ten dollars in her hand,
Saying, "Give this to my cowboy, 'tis all that I command;
O give this to my cowboy and think of olden times,
Think of the darling that he has left behind."
Cho.

Alan Lomax provided neither notes nor musical score.
There are many varieties to this song, it was a favorite with Ken Maynard and other singers who used verses from other songs and added some of their own.
In 1960, The Folk Songs of North America, Alan Lomax used the title "I'm Bound ....." and gave new verses, probably from Alec Moore, and arranged by J. and A. Lomax.

Margaret Larkin, 1931, Singing Cowboy, printed a version, "I'm Bound to Follow the Long Horn Cow," fom MSS. of Franz Rickaby, given to Carl Sandburg.

See thread 61291 for some of the revisions and additions.
I'm Bound to Follow the Longhorn Cows

Fife and Fire printed other versions of Lone Star Trail to be added later.