Songs:Buffalo Skinners (With Ramblin' Jack Elliott) (75966)

From WWR

Contents 1 Trivia, story behind the song, etc. 2 Lyrics 3 Listener comments about this song 4 Tags

Trivia, story behind the song, etc.

I’d heard Jack do this so many times… It was a trick getting him into the studio though. He’s hard to pin down. Dave Weber, our engineer, had an old Great Lakes fishing boat converted into a playhouse for his kids. It sat out in the yard, and you could still plainly read it’s name- GUMPTION. Well, Jack climbed in and out and all through that playhouse, telling us about how that boat had been sailed, how it had been rigged, and on and on…. Once in the studio, he became fascinated with one of Dave’s reverb settings (Jack’s whooping and hollering outlaws in the song)…. I love Jack. (from Tim Grimm's website)

Lyrics

Buffalo Skinners
Traditional

Come all you old time cowboys
And listen to my song
Please do not grow weary
I'll not detain you long
Concerning some wild cowboys
Who did agree to go
And spend the summer pleasant
On the range of the buffalo.

Well I found myself in Griffin
In eighteen eighty-three
When a man by the name of Creagho
Come a'walkin' up to me
Sayin "How do you do young fella
And how'd you like to go
And spend the summer pleasant
On the range of the buffalo".

Well me being out of work right then
To that drover I did say
"My goin' out on the buffalo range
Depends upon the pay
But if you pay good wages,
Transportation to and fro
I think I might go with you
On the range of the Buffalo".

Well yes I pay good wages
And transportation too
If you'll agree to work for me
Until the season's through
But if you do get homesick
And you try and run away
You'll starve to death out on the trail
And you'll also lose your pay

Well with all the flatterin' talkin'
He signed up quite a train
Some ten or twelve in number
Of able bodied men
And our trip it was a pleasant one
Through all New Mexico
Until we crossed Pease River
On the range of the buffalo

It was there our pleasures ended
And our troubles all begun
A lightnin' storm come up on us
And made the cattle run
We got full of the stickers
On the cactus that did grow
And the outlaws waited to pick us off
In the hills of Mexico

Well the working season ended
But the drover would not pay
He said "You spent your money boys
You're all in debt to me".
But the cowboys never put much stock
In a thing like a bankrupt law
So we left the bastard's bones to bleach
On the range of the buffalo.

Listener comments about this song

This a an old tradtional cowboy ballad, and there are a lot of version of the lyrics out there. Everyone sings it a little differently. The words above are actually from Arlo Guthrie's version. --Bisbonian 06:11, May 28, 2006 (AKDT)

Tags

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Buffalo Skinners (With Ramblin' Jack Elliott) by Tim Grimm SONG
on the album Coyote's Dream Buy Tim Grimm at CD-Baby Coyote's Dream	Request this song: Buffalo Skinners (With Ramblin' Jack Elliott) (Only logged in and authenticated users can make requests.) Overall rating: (21 votes) Your rating: You have to login to give your opinion about songs. Length: 5:09 Times played: 31 People hearing: 870 Times requested: 16 First played: May 12th, 2004 Last played: Aug 13th, 2008 Previously played: Jun 13th, 2008 Song ID#: 75966	Listener rankings: 5 stars=sparx ♦ Kelli ♦ Messtaken ♦ Atuuschaaw ♦ Bisbonian ♦ Chili ♦ Kazookid 4 stars=Jim ♦ 65strat ♦ Rubber Soul ♦ Cater ♦ Pyrite ♦ DogNut ♦ 12-stringer ♦ BlueRidge ♦ Firewalk ♦ Doctordoug ♦ Kimchifox 3 stars=Hexaba ♦ CooleyBufo ♦ Mert