The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #106964   Message #3556802
Posted By: AnneMC
07-Sep-13 - 06:07 AM
Thread Name: Songs for cattle
Subject: RE: Songs for cattle
And this a lovely Scottish ballad about cattle droving:

The Drover Road to Amulree 
(David Wilkie of Celtic Cowboys band)
      
The wind pushed the herd along, on the wings of an ancient song
Through passes and rivers went cattle and men
And in the worst of the weather, they slept on the heather
Headed south on the old way, or mountain through glen

Before they laid down the steel rails and blocked off the cattle trails
The hardships were plenty and the pleasures were few
But he walked the hills so wild and free on the way to Amulree
Then he got what he could when the droving was through

So come along then to the small glen, by the old inn,on the river bend
Out on the roads, where he wanted to be
Highland men off to battle, drovers drivin' their cattle
On the Drover Road to Amulree
                                         
Then he grew older and tired, his life uninspired
And he'd wait for the black herds that never came by
But it would not end in an old chair, all alone or in despair
That was no way for a drover to die

They found him face down on the cold ground,
On the old road that led from town
Days passed till they knew that he'd gone away
Instead of sitting by the old stove, he set off on his last drove
And died in the tracks of a long bye-gone day