The old South Coast thread must have disappeared down the barranca, I couldn't find it either. Below is information I posted to some SC thread in the past. The DT lyrics are those that are normally sung. See below for even more definitive (or at least closer to the original) words.

South Coast was written as a poem by Lillian Bos-Ross (aka Shanagolden Ross)in 1926 when she and her husband were camped at Big Creek in the Big Sur country of California. The original title was "The Coast Ballad";. Bos-Ross was also the author of several novels about Big Sur. One of her novels (The Stranger) became a movie (Zandy's Wife) starring Gene Hackman and Liv Uhlman. The Coast Ballad was copyrighted as a song by Bos-Ross and Sam Eskin in 1941. The original chorus did not refer to the South Coast per se. The repeating first line of the chorus was "But the Monterrey coast, wild and lonely-" Katie Lee in her book (Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle - A History of the American Cowboy in Story, and Verse. 1976. Katydid Books; Records, Jerome, AZ pp 111-115, 225-226) relates some conversations with Lillian's husband sometime after Lillian had died. The full song contains 16 verses/choruses. Most versions do not include them all. The song has been recorded a number of times as well as passed around. It is my understanding that the other "authors", Dehr & Miller were instrumental in getting it into the form and tune used today. Among the recordings are:

Terry Gilkyson and The Easy Riders - "Marianne and Other Songs" (Columbia Records) reissued as part of "The Easy Riders - Marianne" (Bear Family 6CD)

Herta Marshall - "American Folk Songs For Women" Folkways FA2333

Singin' Sam Agins - "Singin' Sam & Friends" Haywire Records

Katie Lee - "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" Katydid KD-10076

The Kingston Trio - The K3 version can be found on at least 5 CDs. It may also be part of one of the various greatest hits type collections.
"The Kingston Trio" Capitol T-996 (reissued as a double album CD)
"Live At Newport- CD (Vanguard)
"The Capitol Years" - 4 CD box set Capitol Records
"Stereo Concert" (Capitol Records), reissued on CD as "Stereo Concert Plus" (Folk Era Records)
"The Guard Years 1957-1961" (Bear Family 10 CD set)

Ramblin Jack Elliot - "South Coast" CD (Redhouse Records)

Arlo Guthrie - "Son Of The Wind" (Rising Son Records)

SOUTH COAST
(Lillian Bos-Ross, 1926)

My name is Lonjano de Castro,
My father was a Spanish Grandee;
But I won my wife in a card game
To hell with those lords o'er the sea

In my youth I had Monterey homestead,
Creeks, valley, and mountains all mine;
I built me a snug little shanty
And roofed it and floored it with pine.

I had a bronco, a buckskin -
Like a bird he flew over the trail.
When I rode him out forty miles every Friday
To get me some grub and my mail.

Chorus (original version):
   But the Monterey Coast, wild and lonely -
   You might win in a game at Jolon
   But the lion still rules the barranca
   And a man there is always alone.

I sat in a card game at Jolon
I played with a man there named Juan
And after I'd won all his money
He said, "Your homestead 'gainst my daughter, Dawn."

I turned up the ace, I had won her!
My heart which was down at my feet
Jumped up to my throat in a hurry;
Like a young summer field, she was sweet.

He opend the door to the kitchen;
He called the girl in with a curse;
"Take her, God-damn her, you won her!
She's yours now for better or worse!"

Her arms had to tighten around me
As we rode up the hills from the south,
But no word did I get from her that day
Nor kiss from her pretty red mouth.

We got to my cabin at twilight
The stars twinkled over the coast.
She soon loved the orchard, the valley
But I knew she loved me the most.

That was a glad happy winter;
I carved on a cradle of pine.
By a fire in that snug little shanty
I sang with that gay wife of mine.

But then I got hurt in a landslide
Crushed hip and twice-broken bone;
She saddled up Buck just like lightning,
And rode out through the night to Jolon.

A lion screamed in the baranca;
Buck bolted and fell on a slide.
My young wife lay dead in the moonlight;
My heart died that night with my bride.

They buried her out in the orchard.
They carried me out to Jolon.
I lost my Chiquita, my nina;
I'm an old, broken man, all alone.

The cabin still stands on the hillside,
Its doors open wide to the rain;
But the cradle and my heart are empty,
And I never can go there again.

rich r ^^