PECOS BILL
>From the Walt Disney film "Melody Time" (1948)
(Eliot Daniel / Johnny Lange)


Roy Rogers & The Sons Of The Pioneers (Film Soundtrack) - 1948





Down Texas way a river flows
Where it comes from nobody knows
Where it's a-goin' don't no one care
Just doggone glad it's a-leavin' there

(That there's the Pecos River)
(She was pure alkaline)
(Just natu'lly mean water)
(Why, the buzzards won't even touch it)

Into this fertile garden spot
Once there come a prairie cart
There was Ma and Pa and sixteen brats
Four hound dogs (Yeah, and a couple o' cats)
All a-goin West a-lookin' for elbow room
(Sure could use some o' the same)

Crossin' the Pecos River bed
Somethin' fell out and lid on his head
Folks didn't even know he was gone
Old wagon just kept a-rollin' along
Yep, it was Bill (Poor little critter)
(Homeless as a poker chip)

('Long came the night and the prairie moon)
(Old Ma Coyote a-hurryin' home)
(She was due for a shock at her journey's end)
For the stork had delivered a dividend
(For Ma, more than unusual)
(Yep, ain't never happened before)
(Prob'ly one o' them new-fangled models)

(Bill looked up and then he grinned)
(Shucks! Ma's old heart just plum caved in)
(Then, seein' right off that he needn't fear)
(He staked himself a claim right here)
He headed straight for that old chuck wagon
(Yep, old Bill was hungrier than a woodpecker with a headache)

And so it follered as a nat'ral fact
That Bill growed up with that coyote pack
He soon become the main top hand
In a way they all could understand
But little Bill, he couldn't rest
Till he proved hisself the A-1 best
So, he studied the other varmints, too
Then showed 'em all a trick or two
(Out-loped the antelope, out-jumped the jackrabbit)
(Yeah, Bill even out-hissed the rattlesnake)

(Then one day, cross the burnin' sand)
(A stranger come to the Pecos land)
(The usual committee was there today)
(To welcome their guest in the usual way)
Now, fifty-to-one weren't no fair fight
But one plus Bill made it just about right
Well, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship

>From that time on them two stuck together
Like warts on a toad, like birds of a feather
When Bill growd up, it was nat'ral of course
He'd choose a career to suit him and his horse
(Yep, Bill become a rootin'-tootin' cowboy)
(YAHOOO!   YAHOOO!)

Wooaah, Pecos Bill was quite a cowboy down in Texas
And the Western Superman to say the least
(He was the roughest, toughest critter)
(Never known to be a quitter)
('Cause he never had no fear of man nor beast)

(So, yippee-eye-aye-eye-aye, yippee-eye-oh)
(Fer the toughest critter west of the Alamo)

Once he roped a ragin' cyclone out of nowhere
Then he straddled it and settled down with ease
And while that cyclone bucked and flitted
Pecos rolled a smoke and lit it
And he tamed that orn'ry wind down to a breeze

(So, yippee-eye-aye, yippee-eye-oh)
(Yodeling)

Once there was a drought that spread all over Texas
So to sunny Californy he did go
And though the gag is kind o' corny
He brought rain from Californy
That's the way we got the Gulf of Mexico

(So, yippee-eye-aye, yippee-eye-oh)
(Fer the toughest critter west of the Alamo)

(Once a band of rustlers stole a herd of cattle)
(But they didn't know the herd they stole was Bill's)
(And when he caught them crooked villains)
(Pecos knocked out all their fillin's)
(That's the reason why there's gold in them thar hills)

So, yippee-eye-aye (Eye-aye), yippee-eye-oh (Eye-oh)
Fer the toughest critter west of the Alamo

(Oh, Pecos lost his way while travellin' on the desert.....Water)
(It was ninety miles across the burnin' sand.....Water)
(He knew he'd never reach the border.....Water)
(If he didn't get some water.....Water)
So, he got a stick and dug the Rio Grande

(Yodeling)

While a tribe of painted Indians did a war dance
Pecos started shootin' up their little game
He gave them redskins such a shakeup
That they jumped out from their makeup
That's how the Painted Desert got its name

So, yippee-eye-aye, eye-oh
Fer the toughest critter west of the Alamo

(While reclinin' on a cloud high over Texas)
(With his guns he made the stars evaporate)
(Then Pecos saw the stars declinin')
(So he left one brightly shinin')
(As the emblem of the Lone Star Texas State)

(So, yippee-eye-aye-eye-aye, yippee-eye-oh)

Yep, them was happy days for Bill and that horse
(Looked like nothin' could ever come between 'em)
(Then it happened!)

Now, Bill was happy that fateful day
A-killin' some time in his carefree way
Inventin' a one-man rodeo
A-buttin' heads with the buffalo
Poor Bill (Yeah, happy as a hog in a turnip patch)
And then, Old Man Fate started dealin' from the bottom o' the deck

For down the stream come Slue-Foot Sue
With all her charms revealed to view
Looked like somethin' from out'n a dream
First female woman Bill's ever seen
She was strange (Unusual! Yeah, but powerful stimulatin')
(Like a slug o' Rye on a empty stomach)

Give him a right peculiar feelin'
Set his senses plum revealin'
With a poundin' sound inside his ears
Like the gallopin' hoofs of a thousand steers
Inside his chest was a-searin' and churnin'
His blood was a-boilin', his brain was a-burnin'
A-burnin' with the fires that could only be cooled
(In the beckoning depths of two blue limpid pools) 

(Yep, l'amour had come to Pecos Bill)
(Widowmaker was plum puzzled)
(Looked like trouble to him. He sure was right)

Bill was busy inventin' courtin'.....Western style
He arranged for the Moon to rise just right
And flood the land with a silvery light
Ordered the stars in heaven above
To form a token of undying love
Then 'cross the sky in words of fire
Bill told sweet Sue of his own heart's desire
(Sweet Sue, I love you)

And so Sue named the weddin' day
But there was a price Bill had to pay
Sue wanted a bustle, the finest of course
And she aimed to be wedded a-ridin' Bill's horse

Well, Sue got her bustle and it sure was classy
Put the finishin' touch on that sweet gal's chassis
(Why, that there happy blushin' bride)
(Was a-bustin' out with girlish pride)

But Bill had promised Slue-Foot Sue 
A ride on Widowmaker too
Would that horse be willin' to let Sue ride
(Well, here comes the answer, fit to be tied)
Widowmaker was plum irritated
(But it didn't bother Sue none)

She walked right up to that critter's side
Her gentle hand touched his bristlin' hide
Her foot found the stirrup, with a flick of her bustle
Sue was aboard and set for the tustle
The proceedin's begun to commence forthwith

(No doubt about it, that there Sue)
(Was a regular female buckaroo)

And then.....that bustle
(Underneath them frills and flounces)
(Sue was developin' plenty o' bounces)
(Got to be more'n that gal could handle)
Then Sue took off like a Roman Candle

That devilish contraption of steel and wire
Kept bouncin' that poor gal higher and higher
And soon it was plain to the multitude
That Sue was a-gainin' altitude
(Sure looked like she was a goner)

But no, here come a ray of hope
(Look! Were Bill and his trusty rope)
(He durn soon put a stop to this)
(Shucks! Bill weren't never known to miss)

Bill was calm, confident, he built his loop with careless ease
He judged his distance, tested the breeze
Then a whirl and a twirl and a twist o' the wrist
He let her go.........but the Champeen missed
(How come it happened nobody could ever figure out)

She was off again on her heavenly flight
Up, up she went, clean out o' sight
Till far into space this unfortunate maid
Finally come to the Moon
And that's where she stayed

In the Stae of Texas U.S.A
Life still goes on in the same old way
And the Pecos River still flows on
But the greatest cowboy on Earth is gone

Yeah, Bill went back to the coyotes
But he never forgot Sue
And ev'ry night when the Moon ris high
He'd lift his voice in mournful cry
Bewailin' the fate of his lady fair
His long lost love in the sky up there
So painful was his grief to see
The varmints joined in out of sympathy
And that's how come to this very day
Coyotes howl at the Moon that way






(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - January 2013)