Murder Steer

Verse Come all ye brave cow punchers, wherever you may be My tale is of the nineties, when the west was wild and free South Texas Brewster county, and early work was a goin' on Three thousand head of cattle, thrown together in the dawn Now the biggest outfits of that time were Wentworth and Dubois Their rep was a man named Gilleland sent to represent their law A man of pride and arrogance, he's oft described that way And he set the wheels in motion for the horror of that day Now on that day a yearling bull was claimed by Henry Pogh And the roundup boss agreed, said with Henry he should go Fine Gilleland loped over and cried produce the mama cow Or you'll play hell a takin her and we'll settle her here and now When Henry Pogh and Gilleland met in the center of the herd Tragedy was near at hand though no one could hear their words But when the dust had settled on that January day Henry Pogh was found gunned down; Gilleland rode hard away So the boys dragged out the yearling bull, branded murder on his hide And January twenty on the maverick's other side Then they turned him loose to wander like some phantom of the plains In Texas on the full of the moon his legend still remains (This last verse is slowed down) Out on the lonesome ranges, in the silent mists of dawn The ghost steer comes a glidin', then suddenly he's gone Still searchin' for the cowboys that placed a curse upon his hide Doomed to roam eternity, murder branded on his hide