THE PONY MAN
Gordon Lightfoot
1970


When it's midnight on the meadow and the cats are in the shed
And the river tells a story at the window by my bed
If you listen very closely, be as quiet as you can
In the yard you'll hear him, it is the pony man.

We're always there to greet him when he tumbles into town
He leads a string of ponies, some are white and some are brown
And they never seem to kick or bite, they only want to play
And they live on candy apples instead of oats and hay.

And when we are assembled, he gives a soft command
And we climb aboard our ponies as in a row they stand
Then down the road we gallop and across the fields we fly
And soon we all go sailing off into the midnight sky.

And as we gaily rock along beside a ripplin' sea
There's Tom and Dick and Sally and Mary Jo and me
And the pony man is leading 'cause he's travelled here before
And he gives a whoop and a holler at Mr. Moon's front door.

(bridge)

And then we stop to rest a while where the soda river glides
Up to the slip comes a pirate ship to take us for a ride
And the pony man's the captain and the children are the crew
And we go in search of treasure and laugh the whole night through.

And when the hold is filled with gold and the sails begin to strain
And the deck's piled high with apple pie we head for port again
Then down the whirling starcase so swift our ponies fly
And we're safely in our beds again when the sunbeams kiss the sky.

(bridge)

When it's midnight on the meadow and the cats are in the shed
And the river tells a story at the window by my bed
If you listen very closely, be as quiet as you can
In the yard you'll hear him, it is the pony man.





(Transcribed by David Story - February 2013)