THE COWBOY (2)

All day long on the prairies I ride,
Not even a hound dog to trot by my side,
My fire it is kindled with chips gathered 'round,
I boil my own coffee without being ground,
I wash in a pool and I wipe on a sack,
I carry my wardrobe all on my back,
For want of an oven I cook in a pot,
For want of a bed I sleep on a cot.

My ceiling is the sky, my floor is the grass,
My music the lowing of herd as they pass,
My books are the brooks, my sermons the stones,
My parsons the wolf on his big pile of bones,
My books teach me ever consistence to prize,
My sermons, that small things I should not despise,
My parson remarks from his pulpit of bones,
That Heaven helps them that looks after their own.

Between me and my love lies a gulf very wide,
Some luckier fellow may make her his bride,
My friends gently hint I am coming to grief,
But men must make money and women have beef.
Abraham emigrated in search of a range,
When water was scarce he wanted a change;
Old Isaac owned cattle in charge of Esau,
And Jacob punched cows for his father-in-law.

Notes: I first heard this on the CD "Cowboy Songs Of The Old West" by Alan Lomax and Ed McCurdy; it is sung by McCurdy. I've also heard it by Burl Ives somewhere, probably one of his American Heritage collections from the early 1960's. I believe the air is the same as Dreary Black Hills, the lyrics are found in "SINGING COWBOY - A BOOK OF WESTERN SONGS" Collected and Edited by Margaret Larkin, 1931, 1963; pp 131-134.