The Tenderfoot



I thought, one morning just for fun,

I'd see how ropin' cows was done;

So when the roundup had begun

I tackled the cattle king.

He said, "My foreman's gone to town,

He's in a saloon, his name is Brown

You just go see him, he'll take you down."

Says I, "That's just the thing."



We went to the ranch the very next day,

Brown talked to me 'most all the way.

He said "Punchin' cows is nothin' but play.

T'aint hardly no work at all."

He said," There's nothing to do but ride

It's just like drifting with the tide."

That son of a bitch! Oh how he lied!

He had one hell of a gall.

Sometimes those cattle would make a break

And across the prairie they would take,

Just like they was running for a stake.

To them it was nothing but play.

Sometimes they would stumble and fall

Sometimes you couldn't head them at all

And we'd shoot on like a cannonball

Till the ground came in our way.



They saddled me up on an old gray hack

With a great big seat stuck on his back;

They padded him down with a gunny sack

And with my bedroll, too.

When I got on him, he left the ground

Jumped up in the air, and circled around.

When I come down, I busted the ground,

I had a Hell of a fall!



They picked me up and carried me in,

And rubbed me down with a picket pin.

They says," That's the way they all begin,"

"You're doin' fine", says Brown.

Tomorrow morning, if you don't die

We'll give you another horse to try."

"Say, mister, can't I walk?", says I

Says Brown, "Yep, back to town."



I've traveled up, I've traveled down,

I've traveled this wide world all around.

I've lived in city, I've lived in town;

And here's what I've got to say:

Before you try cowpunching, kiss your wife

Take a lot of insurance on your life

And cut your throat with a butcher knife.

It's easier that way.



@cowboy @work

This was copywrited by Paull- Pioneer Music Co., 1932, with words

credited to D. J. O'Malley. I heard it from my father, who

learned it in the late 1920's. RG

filename[ TNDRFOOT

RG

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