Strawbs - Beside the Rio Grande lyrics
[Strawbs - Beside the Rio Grande lyrics]
It happened rather suddenly that the
Preacher came to town
With stories from the Testaments
Of men of great reknown
With his box of patent medicines he swore
To cure all ills
From the lameness in the horses
To the children's colds and chills
And he had along his Indian wife
And a country music band
Who sang of peace and brotherhood
Beside the Rio Grande
Now the Preacher quickly gathered sick
And poor from miles around
Who came to him for comfort and
To hear his country sound
But the mayor thought he was trouble
When he spoke against the law
And he saw the growing power of
The crowds that he could draw
And he worried when the Preacher bought
Himself a plot of land
To settle with his family
Beside the Rio Grande
The saloon was pretty crowded and
The stakes was a-running high
And the girls sang sentimental songs
That made us cowboys cry
We began to criticise the
Preacher marrying a squaw
And how could he associate with cripples
Drunks and whores
And in a crazy fit the Preacher
Scattered chips and winning hands
And condemned it as a den of
Vice beside the Rio Grande
Now the boys were drunk and rowdy
And mostly pretty mean
And we dragged him to the sidewalk
And whipped his shoulders clean
We said he was responsible for
Bringing on the drought
That had burned off all the spring grass
And had wiped the young herd out
The sheriff would not get involved
The law could take no hand
The Preacher had not harmed a soul
We pegged him on the hillside
Alongside two Apache braves
Who'd been given picks and shovels and
Been made to dig their graves
And when he asked for water stood
And pissed around his feet
While his tongue swelled up and blackened
In the burning desert heat
And someone said we ought to mark
The Preacher with a brand
To show that he did not
Belong beside the Rio Grande
Then the sky began to darken and
A breeze whipped up the dust
And some of us were frightened
While others swore and cursed
And the Preacher said a few words
With his final dying breath
About forgiving us for what we had
Done to bring about his death
And as the night began to fall
We covered him with sand
And left his weary bones to bleach
Preacher came to town
With stories from the Testaments
Of men of great reknown
With his box of patent medicines he swore
To cure all ills
From the lameness in the horses
To the children's colds and chills
And he had along his Indian wife
And a country music band
Who sang of peace and brotherhood
Beside the Rio Grande
Now the Preacher quickly gathered sick
And poor from miles around
Who came to him for comfort and
To hear his country sound
But the mayor thought he was trouble
When he spoke against the law
And he saw the growing power of
The crowds that he could draw
And he worried when the Preacher bought
Himself a plot of land
To settle with his family
Beside the Rio Grande
The saloon was pretty crowded and
The stakes was a-running high
And the girls sang sentimental songs
That made us cowboys cry
We began to criticise the
Preacher marrying a squaw
And how could he associate with cripples
Drunks and whores
And in a crazy fit the Preacher
Scattered chips and winning hands
And condemned it as a den of
Vice beside the Rio Grande
Now the boys were drunk and rowdy
And mostly pretty mean
And we dragged him to the sidewalk
And whipped his shoulders clean
We said he was responsible for
Bringing on the drought
That had burned off all the spring grass
And had wiped the young herd out
The sheriff would not get involved
The law could take no hand
The Preacher had not harmed a soul
We pegged him on the hillside
Alongside two Apache braves
Who'd been given picks and shovels and
Been made to dig their graves
And when he asked for water stood
And pissed around his feet
While his tongue swelled up and blackened
In the burning desert heat
And someone said we ought to mark
The Preacher with a brand
To show that he did not
Belong beside the Rio Grande
Then the sky began to darken and
A breeze whipped up the dust
And some of us were frightened
While others swore and cursed
And the Preacher said a few words
With his final dying breath
About forgiving us for what we had
Done to bring about his death
And as the night began to fall
We covered him with sand
And left his weary bones to bleach