Writer's Friday Tunes


In a land the Spanish once had called the Northern Mystery,
Where rivers run and disappear the mustang still is free.
By the Devil's wash and coyote hole in the wild Owyhee Range
Somewhere in the sage tonight the wind calls out his name.
Aye, aye, aye.
Come gather 'round me buckaroos and a story I will tell
Of the fugitive Claude Dallas who just broke out of jail.
You might think this tale is history from before the West was won,
But the events that I'll describe took place in nineteen eighty-one.
He was born out in Virginia, left home when school was through;
In the deserts of Nevada he became a buckaroo,
And he learned the ways of cattle, and he learned to sit a horse,
And he always packed a pistol, and he practiced deadly force.
Then Claude he became a trapper, and he dreamed of the bygone days,
And he studied bobcat logic and their wild and silent ways
In the bloody runs near Paradise, in monitors down south
Trapping cats and coyotes, living hand to mouth.
Aye, aye, aye.
Then Claude took to livin' all alone out many miles from town,
A friend--Jim Stevens--brought supplies and he stayed to hang around.
That day two wardens--Pogue and Elms--rode into check Claude out,
They were seeking violations and to see what Claude's about.
Now Claude had hung some venison, he had a bobcat pelt or two,
Pogue claimed they were out of season, he said "Dallas, you're all through."
But Dallas would not leave his camp.He refused to go to town.
As the wind howled thought the bull-camp they stared each other down.
Its hard to say what happened next, perhaps we'll never know,
They were gonna take Claude in to jail, and he vowed he'd never go.
Jim Stevens heard the gunfire, and when he turned around
Bill Pogue was falling backwards, Conley Elms he fell face down.
Aye, aye, aye.
Jim Stevens walked on over;there was a gun near Bill Pogue's hand.
It was hard to say who drawn his first, but Claude had made his stand.
Claude said "I am justified Jim, they were gonna cut me down,
And a man's got a right to hang some meat
When he's livin' this far from town."
It took eighteen men and fifteen months to finally run Claude down.
In the sage outside of Paradise they drove him to the ground.
Convicted up in Idaho--manslaughter by decree--
Thirty years at maximum, but soon Claude would break free.
There's two sides two this story, there may be no right or wrong,
The lawman and the renegade have graced a thousand songs.
The story is an old one.Conclusion's hard to draw,
But Claude's out in the sage tonight he may be the last outlaw.
Aye, aye, aye.
In a land the Spanish once had called the Northern Mystery,
Where rivers run and disappear the mustang still is free.
By the Devil's wash and the coyote hole in the wild Owyhee Range
Somewhere in the sage tonight the wind calls out his name.
Aye, aye, aye
 

Well, I went to the doctor
I said, "I'm feeling kind of rough"
He said, "I'll break it to you, son"
"Let me break it to you, son"
Your shit's #@)(*%* up."
I said, "my shit's #@)(*%* up?"
Well, I don't see how-"
He said, "The shit that used to work-
It won't work now."
… I had a dream
Ah, shucks, oh, well
Now it's all #@)(*%* up
It's shot to hell
… Yeah, yeah, my shit's #@)(*%* up
It has to happen to the best of us
The rich folks suffer like the rest of us
It'll happen to you
… That amazing grace
Sort of passed you by
You wake up every day
And you start to cry
Yeah, you want to die
But you just can't quit
Let me break it on down:
It's the #@)(*%* up shit
 

Aunt Clara kept her bible right next to the phone
In case she needed a quote while she talked to someone
In my memory she smiles while the blessings said
And visions of freeze tag dance in my head
She says I'll grow up big if I eat all my roast
That I'll still believe in heaven but I won't believe in ghosts anymore
I'll put away childish things, I'll put away childish things
Every other weekend, age of thirteen
With my fishing pole and my feelings string
Riding back home on the Trailways bus
I looked out the window till I saw too much
And I called my parents by their own first names
I played in the alley but I didn't play the game anymore
I put away childish things, I put away childish things
The wolves howl all night long
They won't stop and they won't go home
Beneath my window they run
Probably it'll be alright
If I keep it all locked up tight
And wait till daylight comes
Now my boy goes like a house on fire
He'll never burn out and he'll never retire
And I remember when I used to think like that
When I was young and the world was flat
But I'm forty some years old now and man I don't care
All I won't now is just a comfortable chair
And to sell all my stock and live on the coast
I don't believe in heaven but I still believe in ghosts
I've put away childish things, I've put away childish things
I've put away childish things, I've put away childish things
The wolves howl all night long
They won't stop and they won't go home
Beneath my window they run
Probably it'll be alright
If I keep it all locked up tight
And wait till daylight comes
If I wait till daylight comes
 
Great story behind this song. Hunting way back in by riggins corb, his army ranger buddy, and I think Evan faulker if I remember right had their horses and mules stolen. The army ranger friend wanted to hunt the thieves down and kill em and corb had to talk him off the ledge.


It's hard not to take your point, 'cause, "Yeah, okay, fine"
How do three mules and a mare just become untied?
Snake River horse theivin' ain't quite gone outta style
So it's hard not to take your point, 'cause, "Yeah, okay, fine"
With that big .44, a killin' on your mind
All I'm gonna ask from a brother's 90 seconds of your time
And maybe try to change your mind, buddy
Don't wanna see you get your hands bloody
Here at home on peace time
We both know you're better off in them Idaho Hills
Where you can be alone with your thoughts and unconfirmed kills
The Docs at the VA always be a-pushin' them pills
But we both know that all you need is them Idaho hills
With that big .44, a killin' on your mind
All I wanna ask from ya brother's 90 seconds of your time
And maybe try to change your mind, buddy
Don't wanna see you get your hands bloody
Here at home on peace time
You think you've got a minute and a half to listen to a friend?
'Cause I say we go hunt elk, we got tags for them
Well, let's take a minute and a half to just recognize
Decisions that affect your life, and possibly mine
Why's everybody so surprised you train up a ranger
Use him up, cut him loose, he goes home and radiates danger?
All the folks that he knows in town treat him like a stranger
Why act so surprised? He's an army ranger
With that big .44, a killin' on your mind
All I wanna ask from ya brother's 90 seconds of your time
And maybe try to change your mind, Kurty
Don't wanna see you get your hands dirty
Here at home on peace time
Out here in peace time
 

i was eightteen
my brother was twenty-one
one saturday evening
when all the work was done
we went down to the river,
had some trot lines to run
my brother walter
had a fight the week before
knocked a boy named wilson
through the pool hall door
they said you don't mess with wilson
unless you want a war
we put the boat in the water,
i made the engine run
loaded the lantern
against the sinking sun
and my brother walter
was loading his gun
and we went down the river
down past the coal docks
we wre running our lines
heard some drunken boaters
racing up behind
it was wilson and his cousin,
they had trouble on their minds
they passed on by us,
probably going to tend their pots
we headed up the river
with the fish we'd caught
but before we made the landing,
i thought i heard a shot
back down the river
my brother walter fell over the side
i couldn't find him no matter how i tried
and looked along the bank
but i couldn't find where they'd hide
they drug the river,
they searched it up and down
couldn't find his body
so they decided that he'd drowned
but i knew better
and wilson bragged around town
so one night i floated down
right above wilson's shack
i hid in the woods
till i saw him walk out back
i put a bullet in his head
and dropped him in his tracks
and we went down the river
down below the trestle
where the water runs slow
i chained him to an anvil
and then i let him go
and five years later
i ain't told a soul
and i ain't done much fishing,
i hardly wet a line
the death of my brother
is still heavy on my mind
i've been thinking wilson's cousin
better find a place to hide
cause i'm going down the river
yeah i'm going down the river
 

Crestfallen sidekick in an old cafe
Never slept with a dream before he had to go away
There's a bell in the tower, Uncle Ray bought a round
Don't worry 'bout the army in the cold, cold ground
Cold, cold ground
Cold, cold ground
Cold, cold ground
Now don't be a cry baby when there's wood in the shed
There's a bird in the chimney and a stone in my bed
When the road's washed out, we pass the bottle around
And wait in the arms of the cold, cold ground
The cold, cold ground
The cold, cold ground
The cold, cold ground
There's a ribbon in the willow and a tire swing rope
Oh, and a briar patch of berries takin' over the slope
The cat'll sleep in the mailbox and we'll never go to town
Till we bury every dream in the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
The cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
Give me a Winchester rifle and a whole box of shells
Blow the roof off the goat barn, let it roll down the hill
The piano is firewood, Times Square is a dream
I find we'll lay down together in the cold, cold ground
The cold, cold ground
The cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
We'll call the cops on the Breedloves, bring a Bible and a rope
And a whole box of Rebel and a bar of soap
Make a pile of truck tires and burn 'em all down
Bring a dollar with you, baby, in the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
Take a weathervane rooster, throw rocks at his head
Stop talking to the neighbors until we all go dead
Beware of my temper and the dog that I've found
Break all the windows in the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
In the cold, cold ground
 

T'was a man of youthful features
T'was a boy of sorrowful eyes
Watching out by looking inward
Tall and stately and full of life
In his life, he spoke but rarely
In his mind he cried for light
Painting perceptions trying to capture
That which he saw in his questioning strife
Once in Lisbon, twice in London
Traveling around for all of his time
Looking for and finding a goddess
He took Diana to be his wife
Of the children, they'd begotten
Two had died without knowing life
And the third I know not whereof
But if she lives, she will yet be kind
Casey had a mark of simple value
He had a star between his eyes
In his hands he held an axe blade
The Greek symbol of thunder and fire
On a night when the heavens were crying
He went out and took his blade
Chopping wood to warm his heart side
The lightning came and my brother died
Bring him no wine from faraway vineyards
Tell him no tales of the canyon's might
But wish him peace and eternal wisdom
For he has died and he died by light
 

Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It's gettin' kinda long
I coulda said it wasn't in my way
But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Yes, I feel like I owe it to someone
Must be because I had a flu for Christmas
And I'm not feeling up to par
It increases my paranoia
Like looking at my mirror and seeing a police car
But I'm not giving in an inch to fear
'Cause I promised myself this year
I feel like I owe it to someone
When I finally get myself together
I'm going to get down in that sunny southern weather
And I'll find a place inside to laugh
Separate the wheat from the chaff
I feel like I owe it
To someone, yeah
 
Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

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