Tony Kraber recorded this one in the 1940's as well. There were not as many verses but he did a splendid job of delivering the story. Here is what he sang:

The Tenderfoot

One day I thought I'd have some fun
And see how cowpunching was done,
So when the round-up had begun
I tackled the cattle king;
He said his foreman's gone to town,
He's in a saloon, his name is Brown;
If you see him he'll take you down;
Says I, "That's just the thing!"

We rode out to the ranch next day,
Brown talked to me most of the way
Saying, "Cowpunching is only play,
It is no work at all;
All you ever do is ride,
It's just like drifting with the tide";
That son-of-a-gun, oh, how he lied!
He certainly had his gall!

They saddled me up an old gray hack,
With two set-fasts on his back;
They padded him down with a gunny sack,
And my bedding all;
When I got on him he left the ground,
Went up in the air and circled around;
Then I came down and busted the ground;
My god, one hell of a fall!

They picked me up and carried me in,
And rubbed me down with a doggie skin;
"That's the way they all begin;
You're doing fine," says Brown;
"And if tomorrow morn you don't die,
We'll give you another ho'se to try."
"Oh, can't I walk?" says I
Says Brown, "Right back to town!"

I've traveled up; I've traveled down;
I've lived in cities; I've lived in towns;
I've traveled this whole wide world around
And I've got this much to say:
Before you try cowpunching, kiss your wife;
Take a great big insurance on your life;
Then cut your throat with a butcher knife
For it's easier done that way!

Charley Noble