The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #35911   Message #545001
Posted By: John Kidder
08-Sep-01 - 01:41 AM
Thread Name: Strawberry Roan - ( & Sheepherder version?)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE GIRL ON THE STRAWBERRY ROAN
Here's one with at least a reference to sheep herding (end of the third verse). This is from Katie Lee's wonderful book "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle", Northland Press, Flagstaff, 1976. Lee says she had this from Billy Simon who got it in the 30s from Tex France ("a kind of radio and Western singer - not a cowboy", and she says that Romy Lowdermilk attributes it to J. Western Warner.

"The Girl on the Strawberry Roan"

Now you have all heard o fthe Strawberry Roan,
Tha famous old bronc and the boys he has thrown.
Let me tell you a tal that will make your head swim
How a blame country girl took that all out of him.
His fame is braadcasted until she got upset,
"I know I can ride him, and straight up, I'll bet."
So she bid farewell to her old folks at home
And lit out to find that old Strawberry Roan.

Oh, that Strawberry Roan, oh, that Strawberry Roan,
I'll find hime, I'll ride him, I'll break his old heart,
I'll pound on his lattice right from the start,
On the ribs of that Strawberry Roan.

Well she found that old horse at a big rodeo,
I'm telling you, boys, it was half of the show.
He came out of the chute buckin' straight up
Making kangaroo jumps, and he wouldn't let up,
Till she crawls on him, and bit hs crop ear,
Right then and there they left this old sphere,
But the girl's settin' pretty and seemed right at home,
As she spurred the full length of the Strawberry Roan.

Oh, that Strawbery Roan, oh, that Strawberry Roan,
He can't jump a lick, he's puddin' to ride,
She is making lace curtains out of his old hide,
The hide of that Strawberry Roan.

Now while he's a buckin', she jumps to the ground,
Then back in the saddle with one single bound,
She's making a monkey of old Roany's hide,
Says she'd like to have him for her kid sis to ride.
She 'lows that her grandma could ride him to town,
Take a settin' of eggs to the old widder Brown,
Now a man that can't ride him should never compete,
But go back to his hiome ranch and start herdin'g sheep.

Oh, that Strawberry Roan, oh, that Strawbery Roan,
There was never a Cowboy that couldn't be throwed,
And never a Bronc that couldn't be rode,
including that Strawbery Roan.

Now this old outlaw is hitched to a cart,
A Chink huckster bought him, and he works right smart,
He peddles onions, and string beans and peas,
Old Roany's plumb gentle, and sprung at the knees,
As he patiently waits at some lady's back door,
You can see on his left hip that old Forty-Four. So cowboys beware before it's too late,
Or like Roany you'll be waitin' at some lady's gate.

Oh, that Strawberry Roan, oh, that Strawberry Roan,
Like salty young cowboys, he roamed far and wide,
But now he's a-waitin' while women decide,
He's a busted old Strawberry Roan.

John Kidder