The Dying Cowboy

Notation: traditional
PDF Files: American

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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush  
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Lyrics:


As I rode out by Tom Sherman’s barroom,
Tom Sherman’s barroom quite early one morn,
I spied a young cowboy all dressed in his buckskins,
All dressed in his buckskins, nor fit for the grave.
Chorus:
    "Oh, beat the drum lowly and play the fife slowly;
    Keep up a dead march as you bear me along.
    Take me out on the prairie and fire a volley o’er me,
    For I’m a young cowboy and I know I’ve done wrong."

"Oh, once in the saddle, I used to go dashing.
Oh, once o'er the prairie I used to ride gay,
But I first took to drinking and then to card playing.
Got shot by a gambler, and I’m dying today."
Chorus

"Go write me a letter to my gray-headed mother,
And state the sad news to my sister so dear,
But there is another that’s dearer than a mother,
And bitterly she’d weep if she knew I was here."
Chorus

"Oh, bury beside me my knife and six-shooter,
My spurs on my heel, and my rifle by my side,
And on my coffin place a bottle of brandy
That the cowboys may drink as so merrily they ride."
Chorus

"Somebody go bring me a glass of cool water,
A glass of cool water," the dying boy said.
They brought him some water; some words he did mutter.
A gasp and the dying cowboy was dead.
Chorus

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