Found this from Slim Critchlow.

THE COWBOY'S LAMENT (second version)

1. So early one morning I rode o'er the ranches,
So early one morning I rode over there
I spied a young cowboy, so brave, young and handsome
With coal black eyes and wavy black hair.

2. His eyes were fast glazing and death was approaching,
His white lips were curled and tortured with pain,
As he spoke in a whisper of a scene far behind him,
Of his home in Montana he'd ne'er see again.

3. "Oh, beat your drum slowly and play your fife lowly,
Play the dead march as you carry me along;
In the grave throw me and roll the sod o'er me,
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong.

4. "I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy,
These words he did speak as I slowly stepped by.
Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story,
Got shot in a gunfight and now I must die."

5. "My home's in Montana; I wear a bandana,
My spurs they are silver, my horse is a bay.
I took to card playing at the house I was staying
Got shot in the breast, and I'm dying today.

6. " Go gather around you a bunch of young cowboys
And tell them the story of this my sad fate.
Tell one and the other before they go further,
To stop their wild roving before its too late.

7. "Please gather up my last hand of poker,
The one that I dropped when I got my death wound.
Take them and my six gun home to my kid brother
After you've buried me deep in the tomb."

8. "Tell him these things all what ruined his brother,
And never to part with the last fatal hand.
But carry it always just as a reminder
If er' he would come to this wild cattle land."

9. Then beat your drum slowly. and play your fife lowly,
And play the dead march as you carry me along.
Into the grave throw me and lay the sod o'er me,
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong."

10. "Please write me a letter to my gray-haired mother,
And break the sad news to my sister so dear.
But not one word of this shall you mention
When a crowd gathers 'round you my story to hear.

11. "Oh, there is another, more dear than a sister;
She's lovely and pure as the dew on a rose.
Tell her to wait for her lover no longer,
For he sleeps where the prairie wind smoothly blows.

12. "Tell her her image has always been with me,
Carrying me up through the long, lonely days;
And that I'm taking it down through the valley,
Locked in my heart to be with me always.

13. "Then swing your rope slowly and rattle your spurs lowly,
And give a wild whoop as you carry me on.
Take me to the green valley there lay the sod o'er me,
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong.

14. " Please, bring me a cup, a cup of cold water,
A cup of cold water," the poor fellow said.
But when I'd returned his soul had departed
And gone to the Giver; the cowboy was dead.

15. We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly,
And bitterly wept as we bore him along;
For we all loved our comrade, so brave, young, and handsome;
We all loved our comrade although he'd done wrong.


Note: From the album "Crooked Trail to Holbrook" Cowboy Songs by Slim Critchlow.