The Strawberry Roan
Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston Lyrics

I was standin' 'round town just a-spendin' my time,
I was hanging out in town with nothing better to do.

Nothin' else to spend, not even a dime
I didn't have any money to do anything else.

When a feller steps up and he says, "I suppose
A guy came up to me and said he guessed...

You're a bronc' bustin' man by the looks of your clothes."
He thought I looked like a horse rider.

"You guessed me right, and a good one," I claim,
I agreed and said I was a good rider.

"Do you happen to have ay bad ones to tame?"
I asked if he had any difficult horses to ride.

He says, "I've got one and a bad one to buck;
He told me he had a really tough horse to ride.

At throwin' bronc riders he's had lots of luck."
This horse had thrown a lot of riders before.

He says, "This old pony ain't never been rode,
The horse was so difficult, no one had ever ridden him before.

And the boy that gets on him is sure to get throwed."
He warned me that I would definitely get thrown off the horse.

"I gets all excited and I ask what he pays
I got excited and asked how much he would pay me to try and ride the horse.

To ride this old goat for a couple of days.
I asked if I could ride the horse for a few days.

He offers a ten spot. I says, "I'm your man,
He offered me $10, and I accepted the offer to ride the horse.

For the bronc never lived that I couldn't fan;
I boasted that I could ride any horse, no matter how tough.

No, the bronc never lived, nor he never drew breath
I insisted that I could always ride any horse.

That I couldn't ride till be starved plumb to death."
I was really confident that I could ride any horse to the death.

He says, "Get your saddle, I'll give you a chance."
He agreed to let me ride the horse and said to go get my saddle.

We got in the buckboard and rode to the ranch.
We traveled to the ranch in a horse-drawn carriage.

We stayed until morning, and right after chuck
We spent the night and ate breakfast the next morning.

We goes out to see how that outlaw could buck.
We went to see how the horse could buck.

Down in the horse corral standing alone,
The horse was alone in the corral.

Was that old cavayo, old strawberry roan.
The horse was an old strawberry roan.

His legs were spavined, and he had pigeon toes,
The horse had bad legs and was pigeon-toed.

Little pig eyes and a big Roman nose,
The horse had small, beady eyes and a big nose.

Little pin ears that were crimped at the tip,
The horse's ears were small and pointed at the top.

With a big 44 branded 'cross his left hip;
The horse had a branding mark on its left hip.

He's ewe-necked and old, with a long lower jaw,
The horse was old and had a long lower jaw, making it look like a female sheep.

You can see with one eye he's a reg'lar outlaw.
The horse looked like a troublemaker even at a glance.

I puts on my spurs and I coils up my twine,
I put on my spurs and coiled up my lasso.

I piled my loop on him, I'm sure feeling fine.
I looped my lasso around the horse and felt confident.

If I rode this old pony, I'd sure earn my ten,
I knew I would earn the $10 if I could ride the horse.

I put the blinds on him, it sure was a fight,
It was a struggle to put the blindfold on the horse.

Next comes my saddle, I screws her down tight,
I secured my saddle tightly on the horse.

I gets in his middle and opens the blind,
I climbed onto the horse and took off the blindfold.

I'm right in his middle to see him unwind.
I was sitting right in the middle of the horse to see what it would do next.

He lowered his old neck and I think he unwound,
The horse lowered its head and started bucking.

He seemed to quit living down there on the ground.
The horse looked like it wasn't even touching the ground while bucking.

He goes up towards the east and came down towards the west,
The horse bucked up to the east and came down to the west.

To stay in his middle I'm doin' my best,
I was doing my best to stay in the middle of the horse.

He's about the worst bucker I've seen on the range
The horse was one of the worst buckers I had ever seen.

He can turn on a nickel and give you some change.
The horse could turn quickly and move in unpredictable ways.

He turns his old belly right up to the sun
The horse arched its back and lifted its belly up to the sun.

He sure is one sun-fishin' son of a gun!
The horse was really good at bucking riders off.

I'll bet all my money the man ain't alive
I believed that no one could stay on the horse.

That can stay with old strawberry when he makes his high dive.
I didn't think anyone could stay on the horse when it bucked hard.

I don't know what keeps him from losin' his hide.
I didn't know how the horse managed to avoid injury while bucking so hard.

I loses my stirrup and also my hat,
I lost my stirrup and my hat while trying to stay on the horse.

I starts pulling leather, I'm blind as a bat;
I started grabbing onto the saddle and couldn't see very well.

With a big forward jump he goes up on high
The horse leapt up into the air.

Leaves me sittin' on nothin' way up in the sky
The horse threw me off and I was left in midair for a moment.

I turns over twice, and I comes back to earth
I flipped over twice before coming back down to the ground.

I lights in a-cussin' the day of his birth
I was angry and cursing the horse.

I know there is ponies I'm unable to ride
I knew that there were horses I couldn't ride.

Some are still living, they haven't all died.
There were still horses out there that I couldn't ride.