Page #3 Of # 6
The True West By Johnny Cash
Never in this land before
us, and nevermore hereafter, could a land know such a people as the pioneer, or cowboy.
His unique brand of lingo, his boots and his bandana, all his devil deeds of daring his
clothes, and way living. But mainly, that gun dangling so his hand could get it quickly,
always wary of the weather, always ready – for he must be ! Listen to the
cowboy’s story and if you can hear it in theses legends, songs and stories, listen
closely to the west wind and the secrets that whispers in the forest, plains and valleys,
in the sand forever shifting. Johnny Cash
(Pictures From Left to Right)
Billy The Kid, Jesse James & Gang, John Wesley Hardin
The Ballad Of Boot Hill
I walked through tombstone Arizona’s
Boot Hill Cemetery eight years ago for the first time. The view from Boot Hill across the
valleys is beautiful, it’s hard to believe that the place saw so much killing. One
grave marker reads simply " Hanged by mistake"
Streets Of Laredo
A British tune, the original is supposed
to be about a man who died of syphilis in a London hospital. The second and third verses
here ( Author Unknown ) are from "Cowboy Songs" by John Lomax, published in
1910.
Sam Hill
I first heard this sung by Tex Ritter.
Some people say that the morning Sam Hill was to be hanged, a friend slipped him a bottle.
He staggered up the gallows, cursing everyone in the crowed.
A Letter From Home
I asked Mother Maybelle Carter one night
to write me a Western song for this album. The next morning me this. Since the Bible on
the plains was uncommon as a letter from home, many cowboys called it that.
Green Grow The Lilacs
Done best by in our time by Tex Ritter,
This song was writen in 1848 by a Texas soldier during the strife with our mexican
neighbors.
Tex Ritter
The Rebel
The Civil War
directly or indirectly was the cause of thousands upon thousands going west. A surprising
fact I uncovered was both the Northern and Southern armies used prisoners-of war to fight
Indians. Many more were killed. Speaking of death in the west, it’s a proven fact
that more men died of rattlesnake bite than of bullets. ( don’t tell the movie
producers
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