WESTERN COWBOY
Huddie Ledbetter

Western Cowboy     3:40    Trk 1
Huddie Ledbetter - vocal 
Recording Date: July 1, 1934 Angola - Louisiana State Prison  
Album: Leadbelly Important Recordings 1934-1939  Disc A
JSP Records remastered JSP UK Records 7764  2006




When I was a cowboy
Out on the western plains
When I was a cowboy
Out on the western plains
I made a half a million
Pullin' on the bridle reins


Come a ki-ki--yicky
Cow, ki-yicky-yicky-yeah


I went to my girl's house
She's sittin' d'ere alone
Went to my girl's house
She's sittin' d'ere alone
I'm a poor western cowboy
A long way from home


Come a ki-ki--yicky
Cow, ki-yicky-yicky-yeah


When I left my girl's house
She was rockin' in her rockin' chair
When I left my girl's house
She was rockin' in her rockin' chair
Poor western cowboy
Please don't you leave me here


Come a ki-ki--yicky
Cow, ki-yicky-yicky-yeah


Went to my girl's house
Sitting deep down in my saddle
Went to my girl's house
Sitting deep down in my saddle
I'm the best western cowboy
That ever herd cattle


Come a ki-ki--yicky
Cow, ki-yicky-yicky-yeah


Oh, de hardest battle
Was there ever on the western plains
Oh, de hardest battle
Was there ever on the western plains
When me an a bunch of cowboys
Run into Jesse James


Come a ki-ki--yicky
Cow, ki-yicky-yicky-yeah


Me an a bunch of cowboys
Run into Jesse James
Me an a bunch of cowboys
Run into Jesse James
All the bullets was a-fallin'
Just like a shower rain


Come a ki-ki--yicky
Cow, ki-yicky-yicky-yeah


Come all you cowboys
Don't you wanna go?
Come all you cowboys
Don't you wanna go?
Gon see the ranges
On the range in *Buffalo


Come a cow ki--yicky
Cow, cow, yicky-yicky-yea


Take de hardest battle 
Was there ever on Bunker Hill
Oh, de hardest battle
Was there ever on Bunker Hill
When me an' a bunch of cowboys
Run into Buffalo Bill


Come a cow ki--yicky
Cow, cow, yicky-yicky-yea


Come all you cowboys
Don't you wanna hear?
Come all you cowboys
Don't you wanna hear?
O'vr nineteen hundred
Bullets around your ear


Come a cow ki--yicky
Cow, cow, yicky-yicky-yeah.


~


*may refer to Buffalo, Texas named from where 
bison roamed free on the range in the 1800's.
The city celebrates each year with a festival called
'The Buffalo Stampede'. 










(Contributed by AwC - April 2008)