Historical Folk Lyrics
"Texas Jack"

Come, give me your attention, and see the right and wrong,
It is a simple story and won't detain you long;
I'll try to tell the reason why we are bound to roam,
And why we are so friendless and never have a home.

My home is in the saddle, upon a pony's back,
I am a roving Cow-boy and find the hostile track;
They say I am a sure shot, and danger I never knew;
But I have often heard the story that now I'll tell to you.

In eighteen hundred and sixty-three a little emigrant band
Was massacred by Indians, bound West by overland;
They scalped our noble soldiers, and the emigrants had to die,
And the only living captives were two small girls and I.

I was rescued from the Indians by a brave and noble man,
Who trailed the thieving Indians and fought them hand to hand;
He was noted for his bravery while on an enemy's track;
He has a noble history and his name is Texas Jack.

Old Jack could tell a story if he was only here,
Of the trouble and the hardships of the Western pioneer;
He would tell you how the mothers and comrades lost their lives,
And how the noble fathers were scalped before our eyes.

I was raised among the Cow-boys, my saddle is my home,
And I'll always be a Cow-boy, no difference where I roam;
And like our noble heroes my help I volunteer,
And try to be of service to the Western pioneer.

I am a roving Cowboy, I've worked upon the trail,
I've shot the shaggy buffalo and heard the coyote's wail;
I have slept upon my saddle, and covered by the moon;
I expect to keep it up, dear friends, until I meet my doom.