C.W. McCall

[On the CB.] Breaker, one-nine, this here's the Duck again. You got a copy on me Pig Pen, c'mon? Ah, negatory, Pig Pen, there ain't no way out 'cept for that one Atlantic Ocean. Now listen, drop them hogs off in Omaha and get over here in a short, 'cause it d...

Well, I was born in a town called Audubon Southwest Iowa, right where it oughta been Twenty-three houses, fourteen saloons, And a feed mill in nineteen-thirty. Had a neon sign, said "Squealer Feeds" And the bus came through when they felt the need And t...

One night last summer we were camped at ten thousand feet up where the air is clear, high in the Rockies of Lost Lake, Colorado. And as the fire burned low and only a few glowing embers remained, we laid on our backs all warm in our sleeping bags and looked up...

Me an' RJ an' the kids was on a camp-out in the mountains, and we had us one'a them U-Drive-'Em Army Jeep cars which we rented from a fella by the name of Kubozke for thirty bucks a day, buy your gas along the way, take a rabbit's foot and leave a pint of bloo...

'Way out in Colorado In the Camp Bird Mine Down deep in the darkness On level nine Where the water trickles An' your blood runs cold There's a lonesome miner Still lookin' for gold He's way down deep... In the Camp Bird Mine He never sees the sno...

Ridin' on The City of New Orleans Illinois Central Monday morning rail Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders Two conductors and a-twenty-five sacks a' mail All along the southbound odyssey The train pulls out at Kankakee And moves on along past houses...

I's thumbin' through the want ads in the Shelby County Tribune when this classified advertisement caught my eye. It said, "Take imme-di-ate delivery on this '57 Chevrolet half-ton pickup truck. Will sell or swap for a hide-a-bed and thirty-five bucks. Call One...

She was born in the brief mountain springtime Blue in the late mountain snow And she grew in the sunlight of summer But she knew when the aspen turned gold That she had grown old [Chorus] Columbine, columbine Blue in the Rockies Will I miss you, whil...

'Way up in the snow Where the scrub oaks grow And the coneys and the picas play Where the marmots abound All a-diggin' in the ground And the wind blows cold all day There's a little pile a' stones On a little pile a' bones That's a-what the archaeolo...

Yeah, breaker one-nine This here's the Rubber Duck You got a copy on me Pig Pen, c'mon? Uh, yeah, Ten-Four Pig Pen, fer sure, fer sure By golly it's clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon Yeah, its a big Ten-Four there, Pig Pen Yeah, we definitely got the front...

[On the CB] Ah, breaker one-nine, this here's the Rubber Duck. You gotta copy on me, Big Ben, c'mon? Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, for sure, for sure. By golly, it's clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon. Yeah, that's a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen, yeah, we definitely got...

Bill Fries says that this is based on a true story from the late '60s, when a band of hippies rolled into Telluride and decided to stay. One day about four or five years ago We is settin' at the Conoco station Kickin' tires, and swattin' flies, And discus...

Well, now, I been hearin' you're concerned about my happiness But all a' that thought you're a-givin' me is conscience, I guess If I was walkin' in your shoes I wouldn't worry none So you and your friends don't worry 'bout me, I'm havin' lots of fun [C...

[Chorus] Four wheel cowboy Four wheel cowboy Four wheel cowboy Jeepin' down to Santa Fe Well, Denver town an' I'm outta the chute Foot in the gas an' a hole in my boot And I'm outbound, yeah Gonna see my momma in Santa Fe I'm over the Hump and I'm o...

We is screamin' through the valley Where the Nishnabotna flows Through the mud and crud and cornfields Where the mari-ju-wana grows 'Cross the railroad tracks of Persia Down the hills and up the dale Had a CJ-5 with a four-wheel drive And Smokey on my t...

On a cold November mornin' Back in nineteen-thirty-seven With an early snow a-fallin' On the three-foot tracks at Ames Came a mighty strange contraption Known to trainmen as a motor But to folks in Colorado She was known by another name Up the canyons...

[The sound of a lonely harmonica.] The dance hall is silent and empty The banjos don't play anymore The music is only a mem'ry And the dancing is dust on the floor Wild flowers cover the ground now The timbers are streaking with gray The palace is t...

When rivers ran blue up on the mountain And rivers ran green out on the plain When the river ran red in Glenwood Canyon It was only a matter of time Then rivers ran gold up on the mountain And rivers ran wild out on the plain And the river ran free thr...

[Spoken] Way out in the canyons of the West, there's a wild river. The Spanish named it San Buenaventura; but we knew it as the Green. It was daylight on the river but we couldn't see the sun And we couldn't hear our voices through the roar But we felt t...

Go to sleep, you weary hobo Let the towns drift slowly by Can't you hear the steel rail hummin'? That's a hobo's lullaby Do not think about tomorrow Let tomorrow come and go Tonight you're in a nice warm boxcar Safe from the all the wind and snow I...

[Spoken] I found her settin' on a Sioux City park bench, on a late November afternoon. Me, I was just driftin' through. She said she was fourteen, and runnin' away from home. And no, she wouldn't mind some company. So I sat down and smoked my last cigarette;...

[Clap your hands and stomp your feet.] Well, I've walked the line on 89 In the Arizona sun I've chased the moon and I've caught a star On U.S. one-oh-one I've seen the sights from the Northern Lights To the bend in the Rio Grande I've took in a lot of t...

Well, packin' on back to Jackson Eighteen-thirty-an'-six Fifteen wagons an' forty-five orn'ry mules Packin' on back to Jackson Workin' the beaver trail Ten more moons an' we gonna rendevous [Chorus] Jackson Hole, Wyomin' Fifteen wagons an' forty-five...

Now Arnold Jones an' MaryBeth Jensen's in a 'Vette down by the Deep Rock Had John Denver on the 8-track, gettin' high MaryBeth's wig was on the floor An' Arnold's feet was out the door When we shined our flashlight in Arnold's startled eyes I says "What c...

Well, it's a long, lonesome road Through the lifetime of a trucker But me and my good ol' friend here We gonna make it It's a long-haulin' road And the load of life is heavy But me an' this good ol' truck We gonna take it Through the wind an' rain...

Now, I'll tell ya a tale that'll bust yer heart That only a few people knew, ta start It all took place when our concert tour was booked at the SeaTac Hilton? I'll guarantee ev'ry word's the Gospel truth Got witnesses ta prove it, too, 'Cause we all toure...

Rollin' down the runway Thinkin' 'bout the one-way of my life With another cup of coffee And another lonesome city far behind This old 747 will be flyin' over Heaven One more time And the tears begin to fallin' When I think about the mountains on my mi...

We'd worked ourselves senseless Been bustin' down fences Drivin' dry cattle, no water in sight As we sat 'round the fire And cursed the barbed wire A stranger broke into our light Not knowin' no better Some fool went for leather But a whispered "I wou...

[A ghostly chorus] Night rider Well, a-truckin' on the night line, quarter past five Tryin' to get my rig an' me to 'Frisco alive Fog lights up tight, a-givin' me the creeps Just a Winnemucca trucka with a load a' black sheep [A ghostly chorus]...

One time when I was growin' up it was when I was a kid there was nothin' to do at home so I called up one of my friends and said, "let's pack us a box lunch and go down to the Nishnabotna and go swimming and maybe look for some toads" my friend said h...

She was mud and sand and concrete Mixed with water made a' tears From the rivers runnin' down the Great Divide She was three thousand miles Of rockin', rollin' highway A million mem'ries long and two lanes wide Far across the wide Missouri To the ol' Wy...

She was old, and beautiful, and wise, and She taught the young boy everything he needed to know. All about the land, and the woods and the rivers, and what had happened there even before he was born. She taught him what was good and what was bad. And m...

Well, Interstate 80, we was cuttin' the fog Just me an' old Sloan (Old Sloan's my dog) We had an eighteen-wheeler with ten on the floor and stereo layin' a strip Now we spied a sign, says "Eat Gas Now" We decided to whip in and pick up some chow At the Ol...

Did you see me at Westport Landing On the wide Missouri shore? Did you hear the west wind calling In the spring of forty-four? [Chorus] If the mud don't stay and the cattle don't stray We can make Fort Kearny by the middle of May If the mud don't stay...

Well, they're rompin' down in Austin And they call it "Western Swing" They even wrote a song that says "Bob Wills is still the king" Well that I can agree with But this much I declare There's more to country music Than outlaws and Lone Star beer From T...

YEE-HAW! Merciful sakes alive! You wanna be one a' them CBers, you gonna learn how to ratchetjaw! Pay attention now; I'm only gonna explain it to ya once. You gotta go runnin' amuck in a pick-'em-up truck With one a' those fancy sidebands? Get four-on-the-...

One cold, black night of a Colorado winter It snowed on Red Mountain Pass We warned ev'rybody that the Slide was runnin' An' 5-5-Oh was a mess But outta the plowshed, south a' town Come a blade with a flashin' blue light We told that boy: "Whatever you d...

When the skies are gray, and the wind is cold, I remember. How the snow was silver, and the leaves were gold when I left her. It was early mornin', on a Rocky Mountain September. And she was gone. Well now it's five A.M. an' I'm a hunnert an' ten miles from...

Well, I had two weeks vacation comin' So I thought I'd drive down to Florida Spend some time with an old friend, date a few girls Make a few parties, and just kinda live it up again So I packed up my car and then I called my Mom in Tennessee And told her...

[The only musical instrument heard is the plucking of a Jew's harp.] I had an old cat named Roy. He was a good ol' boy. He used to go a-huntin', down by the lake, Catch 'im a nice, fresh garter snake. Bring 'im on back and then set in the grass, Lookin'...

When the snow falls on Christmas Eve, And everything's white I sit by the window, And remember another night When Mama played the organ, And we turned off all the lights And we all stood around her And sang Silent Night The organ is quiet now, And Mam...

Well, I found him on the corner of Seventh and Main In the Iowa township of Sloan (Township of Sloan...) He's tired, and he's hungry, he's old, and he's grungy And parked in a no-parkin' zone Well I bent down an' says "How ya doin', old fella?" He tried...

Me an' Earl was workin' the superslab outside a' that Ogallala? When outta town come a local clown in a '65 Impala Had a 'coon tail flyin' off a' his whip antenna We was haulin' a load a' them go-go girls Truckin' 'em over to O-town Old boy got on his mi...

Take my duds to the junkman Give 'I'm ev'rything I got Take my brass belt buckle an' my turquoise ring I gotta get out while I'm hot You ain't a-con-tri-bu-tin' to the way I'm livin', Yer support don't mean a lot Nobody gives a damn about what I am, The...

C.w. Mccall Wilderness Telluride Breakdown (c.w. mccall, bill fries, chip davis) Dum da-da-dah dum da-da-dah dum da-da-dah dum-dum Dum da-da-dah dum da-da-dah dum da-da-dah da-da-da Dum dum da-dum-dum-da-dum Dum dum da-dum-dum-da-dum (dum, dum) 

Well, in eighteen-fourteen we took a little trip Along with colonel jackson down the mighty mississip We took a little bacon and we took a little beans And we caught the bloody british at the town of new orleans. [Chorus] We fired our guns and the britis...

The cowboy will never get married to you, girl It's the fightin' that he just can't bear But when there's women and whisky and beer-drinkin' brawls The cowboy will always be there He'll sing you sad songs, girl, 'cause that's all he knows And soon you'l...

She was born one mornin' on a Sun Juan summer back in 18-an'-80-an'-1 She was a beautiful daughter of the D & RG and she weighed about a thousand ton Well it's a 45 mile thru the Animas Canyon so they set her on the narrow-guage She drunk a whole lotta...

Well, it's only gonna be about an hour, friend 'Til they dam your favorite river So you can water-ski just one more reservior And them supersonic ships are gonna take you 'Cross a sea of pavement To one more faceless brickyard on the shore Yeah, it's on...

Ev'ry evenin', when the sun goes down And nobody can see me I get my Chevy an' I cruise around Makin' love on my CB I say, "Breaker broker for the Wolfman, baby We lookin' for Red Ridin' Hoods We definitely wants to modulate We on the side, in the woods...

Jimmy Joe left the mountain 'bout seven months ago, When the autumn nights turned cool Chasin' a dream, like they say Just goin' away to school An' though he loved Amy more'n anything else, He felt he just had to go, and make his way An' Amy felt pretty...

[Chorus] (Gotta keep these wheels) Wheels of fortune rollin' It don't matter where we're goin' East or west or south to Tennessee (Gotta keep these wheels) Wheels of fortune movin' Keep on truckin', keep on movin' Gotta stay ahead of the finance compan...

Come along and sing A song you knew before Come along and sing Once more Come along and live A life you knew before Come along and live Once more [C.W. and backup singers] Wake with me and feel the misty blue dawn Come hear the wild bird sing her mor...

Me an' Earl was haulin' chickens on a flatbed out of Wiggins, and we'd spent all night on the uphill side of thirty-seven miles of hell called Wolf Creek Pass. Which is up on the Great Divide? We was settin' there suckin' toothpicks, drinkin' Nehi and onion...

Write me a song about singin' Write me a song about free Do a little tune about lovin' and a-livin' Do it just for me [Chorus] But please don't make it a sad song I don't wanna sing the blues For god's sakes make it a glad song I got no time to lose N...