Real Cowboys Don'T Sing Honky-Tonk Songs

When cowboys sprawl 'round the camp fire after the days work is done, They strum guitars and tootle harmonicas and sing to have fun. Real cowboys don't sing Honky-Tonk or She Done Me Wrong stuff. They leave that to rhinestone cowboys, considerin' it to be so much fluff! Real wranglers sing about ropin' dogies and fixin' barbed wire fences, Roundups, brandin' time and the magnificence of God's grand expanses. They sing of home on the range, rodeos and dinin' on bacon and beans, Cattle stampedes on stormy nights, the old corral and dance hall queens. They harmonize about ghost riders in the sky who've met their fates, Tumblin' tumbleweeds, cool water, tin cups and eatin' from tin plates. They sing about bein' back in the saddle again and the streets of Laredo, And belt out songs about horses named Old Paint, Ol' Dan and Tornado. They yodel the cattle call and sing about when the bloom's on the sages, And croon about their yellow rose of Texas and their pitiful wages. Real buckaroos sing about Christmas in the bunk house and rye whiskey, Cattle drives on the Lone Star and Abilene trails and a life so very risky. They sing of the grumpy foreman and when the works all done this fall, And tweedle about ragtime cowboy Joe and many a barroom brawl. Real cowboys sing about ridin' the range, the chaparral and dusty trail, And leave Hank Snow to warble about lost love, honky-tonks and landin' in jail! Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired (c) 2014 All Rights Reserved