Re:Where the buffalo roam..
Wednesday, August 25 2010 @ 12:17 AM CDT

I went to an NSAI workshop tonight and got some real good feedback on my "aging singing hero-cowboy" song from Jeff Dayton, a seasoned Nashville writer and session player.

Here is my aggressive rewrite, not yet recorded. See if you can find the bison in it.

Rise Up, Cowboy

You're a wailin' buckaroo in old leather hide
With chaps a flappin' in the warm prairie breeze.
Saddled with the weight, you still want to ride –
Won't give up the chase, won't bend to your knees.

Men, women, children hushed as you enter town.
You're gonna fight the bad guys, sing a song, beat the cheat.
Bright hazel eyes, deep voice, unfurrowed brow.
Late blooming, just like wild winter wheat.

[refrain]
Rise up, cowboy. Ride on!
Your wanderlust will take you to the edge of whim.
Rise up, cowboy. Ride on!
Do some good before your wick is trimmed.

There's power in the sage roots that you're eatin'.
There's might in poems you write and songs you play.
With virtue in your heart, you can't be beaten.
With confidence, you conquer night and day.

No one else can catch the wind with such a flair.
No one else can send the rustlers out to graze.
Heels digging deep into the gut of your gray mare,
You ride the clouds in most peculiar ways.

[refrain]

[break]

A rush of lofty tales and passing hours
flows from your soul across the golden waves.
Stories of bone and flesh and blood, so sweet and sour,
wooliness and holiness expressed in many ways.

[refrain]

[tag]
Rise up, cowboy. Ride on! Rise up, cowboy. Ride on!
Rise up, cowboy. Ride on! Rise up, cowboy. Ride on!

Lyrics and music © 2005 Richard Schletty
www.richardschletty.com