Chris Ledoux Lyrics

[This Cowboy's Hat] [What you Gonna do With a Cowboy?]
[Seventeen] [The Bull Rider] [Ridin' for a Fall] [Cadillac Ranch] [Caballo Diablo] [Copenhagen]

This Cowboy's Hat


Verse 1:
Well I was sitting in a coffee shop
just having a cup to pass the time
swapping rodeo stories with this old cowboy friend of mine.
When some motorcycle riders started snickering in the back
started poking fun at my friend's hat.

Verse 2:
One old boy said "hey Tex, where'd you park your horse"
My friend just pulled his hat down low, but they couldn't be
ignored.
One husky fella said "I think I'll rip that hat right off your
head".
That's when my friend turned around, and this is what he said...

Chorus:
You'll ride a black tornado across a western sky.
Rope an old blue norther and milk it 'till it's dry.
Bulldog the Mississippi, pin its ears down flat
Long before you take this cowboy's hat.

Verse 3:
Now partner, this old hat's better left alone.
You see, it used to be my daddy's, but last year he passed on.
My nephew skinned the rattler that makes up this old hat band.
But back in '69, he died in Vietnam.

Verse 4:
Now the eagle feather was given to me by an Indian friend of mine.
Someone ran him down somewhere around that Arizona line.
And a real special lady give me this hat pin
And I don't know if I'll ever see her again.

Chorus:

Verse 5:
Now if your leather jacket means to you what this hat means to me,
then I guess we understand each other, and we'll just let it be.
But if you still think it's funny,
Man, you got my back up against the wall
And if you touch my hat, you're gonna have to fight us all.

Verse 6:
Well right then I caught a little sadness in that gang leader's
eyes.
He turned back to the others and they all just kind of shuffled on
outside
But when my friend turned back towards me I noticed his old hat brim
Well it was turned up in a big old Texas grin!

Chorus

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What you Gonna Do With a Cowboy?


Verse I
I can see you got your eye on this ol' cowboy
I can tell you've never had one for your own
Well you've never been around one
Now you're thinkin' that you found one
And it might be kinda' fun to take him home

Verse II
You giggle every time that I say, "Yes, ma'am"
And I get this feelin' if I held you tight
You'd be seein' his and her's
Buckles, boots, and spurs
But that's a feelin' you'd get over overnight

Chorus
'Cause what you gonna' do with a cowboy?
When that ol' rooster crows at dawn
When he's lyin' there instead
Of getting' out of bed                  
And puttin' on his boots and gettin' gone.
And what you gonna do when he says, "Honey."
"I got half a mind to stay."
What you gonna do with a cowboy
When he don't saddle up and ride away

Verse III
Well you can see it takes a special kinda woman
To put up with the life a cowboy leads
Cause his boots are always muddy,
And his beer drinkin' buddies
They'll camp out on your couch and never leave

Verse IV
Don't even start to think you're gonna change him
You'd be better off tryin' to rope the wind
Cause what he is is what you've got
And he can't be what he's not
And honey, you can't hide him from your friends

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Seventeen


Spoken:
When he was 5 years old his mom took him down to the round corral, to
watch his dad work the young horse they called Smokey
Man, did that horse buck
But his old dad just sat up there and rode him like there was nothin' to
it, Right then, the boy gained a whole new respect for the man
And from that day on, he knew that when he grew up he wanted to be a
cowboy.

Verse 1
Seventeen, cowboys dreams ain't on fixin' fences
Once he's seen 'em ride in old Cheyenne
Ranch routine and his old man's schemes
This ain't where his heart is
But you know his daddy understands

Verse 2
Noonday comes, father and son sit down and eat their dinner
Beneath that big Wyoming sky
His daddy knows he's gotta let him go
The boy can't be a winner
If he don't spread his wings and fly

Chorus
And in his mind he's riding bulls down in Las Vegas
Soon he'll be on a train that leads to Santa Fe
Sweet voice of freedom echoes down the ages
Calls another cowboy on his way

Verse 3
Fencin's done and the morning sun finds him packed and ready
Momma kissed his cheek and then she went inside
His old man, well he shook his hand, said,
Son, you ride 'em pretty
Didn't see the tears that his momma cried

Chorus
And in his mind he's riding bulls down in Las Vegas
Today he's on a train that leads to Santa Fe
Sweet voice of freedom echoes down the ages
Calls another cowboy on his way

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The Bull Rider


I was sittin' in a bar room one rainy afternoon
Tellin' stories about a rodeo and listenin' to a tune
The rodeo starts tomorrow in this one horse town
So Bill took our names and put our entries down
I went to the rodeo office the next day to see
What bareback horse I had and to pay my fees
I looked across the list but my name wasn't to be found
I thought Bill just might have forgot to put me down
I looked across the board and I happened to find
My name was on another list I was in the bull ridin'
My knees began to knock and my face began to sweat
And I heaved and gagged on the rodeo office step
Well I may be a fool but a coward I'm not
So I borrowed myself a bull rope with a bell in the knot
I walked into the arena with them other bull ridin' fools
I walked down the chutes and finally found my bull
Then I put my rope in the middle of his back
And had some cowboy pull up the slack
Then I wrapped the tail around my hand and back
And said boys open that gate just a little bitty crack
Well the bull hit the gate with his head
And I could see over his hump that his eyes were red
He bailed out of there with a big snort and beller
And something inside me told me I was yeller
Well the dust and hair and flies from off of his hump
Did wisk to my nose as he made another jump
And the stink of it all was more than I could stand
So I jerked my wrap and opened up my hand
Well he jumped in the air and he made one more turn
And as the rope slid through my hand it sure did burn
He flung me down in a great big heap
Then right in the middle of me he did leap
With his feet in my belly a standin' in place
That dirty filthy old bull blew snot in my face
So them damned old bulls you can run'em in a chute
And put your ropes on them big galloots
But the closest you're gonna find me to their stinkin' hair
Is to help some other fool get flung in the air

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Ridin' for a Fall


Last night you told her,  you could never hold her
Cause cowboys just got to be free
Her heart was breaking,   yours was aching
but you saddled up to follow your dreams
Coffee on your campfire,  wind through the barbed wire
You huddle close to the flames
Though she's far behind you,  the night wind reminds you
It just keeps on whispering her name

CHORUS:
You can make a run for the border
Try to hide in the hole in the wall
But don't you know your arms are aching to hold her
And cowboy even though you're riding tall 
You're riding for a fall

Verse 2:

Midnight the moons up,  hands around your tin cup
The frost settles in on the sage
The night gettin' colder,  well man you're gettin' older
Tonight you're feeling your age

Verse 3
Why don't you turn back,  just saddle up and backtrack
You know you'll never find a love quite like hers
and tell me on a cold lonesome evening,  
What the hell good's your freedom
Don't you think it's time you hung up your spurs

REPEAT CHORUS

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Cadillac Ranch



Well the well went dry and the cow did too
Daddy didn't know what to do
The banker came by the house one day
Said he's gonna take the farm away
Momma came up with a plan
Brother and me started up a band
Sister put a sign on the roof 
And Daddy bought a case of ninety-proof

CHORUS
Now we call it the cadillac ranch
they're parking cars in the old feed patch
There's a bar in the barn and the place stays packed
Till the cows come home at cadillac ranch


Now the only thing that we raise is cane
You don't need the sun and rain
Just neon lights and some ice cold beer
Keeps everything real around here
Momma take the cash at the door
Brother and me keep 'em out on the floor
Sister sets them up at the bar
And Daddy kicks back with a big cigar

REPEAT CHORUS

Well we gave all the cows away
Now the only horns around here today
Are the ones up on the grill
Of a genuine fifty-nine coupe de ville

REPEAT CHORUS (X2)

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Caballo Diablo


Wild as a coastal barranca, swift as the wind blowin' free
With two eyes like fire brands that glow in the night
Somewhere up there he's waitin' for me
And he knows that I'm comin' for him, And I just can't rest 'til I find
That raven black stallion that wears no man's brand
with a wild restless spirit like mine

Chorus
They call him Caballo Diablo, half horse half devil they say
Caballo Diablo, the outlaw up a top the Sierra Madre

Two men before tried to take him, they had their chance one by one
But each met his fate when those flashin' black hooves
brought death 'neath the Mexican sun
Still I can't leave, I must find him, 
You fool of a horse can't you see?
I may be half man, but the other half's devil, And you're 
just exactly like me

Chorus

Even the breeze has stopped movin' all hush now, be still,
Don't make a sound stay close to the ground
'Cuz he's waitin' just over that hill
Down wind behind him move quickly, do it fast now, he's startin' to stir
Grab a handful of mane, then up on to his back,
And start rakin' him down with my spurs
But try as he will he can't shake me as over the precipice we go
To shed the life blood of a horse and a man on the rocky sierra below

Chorus

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Copenhagen


Chorus
Copenhagen it makes me feel so good.
Copenhagen the way I know it should.  
I put a little chew in my mouth,
go spittin' and a-slobberin'
all around the house, that
Copenhagen, it makes me feel so good.

1.
I took a chew just the other night-
it made me feel so fine.
I Grabbed my honey baby
and I pinched her ol' behind.
She said, "you better spit out that
chewin' tobaccer if you wanna kiss
me on the big ol' smacker,
that Copenhagen, it makes me feel so good.

CHORUS

2.
I was sittin' in a bar room
and I took a little dip--
Drinkin' beer & talkin'
but I had no place to spit.
So I spit a stream out on the floor,
and that bouncer flung me out the door,
that Copenhagen, it makes me feel so good.

CHORUS

Recitation

It's a cure all too-
it cures fits, warts, freckles, coughs,
colds, runny nose.
Guaranteed not to rip, run or snag.
Makes conception a wonder and
child birth a pleasure...
That's Copenhagen...

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