Way up high in the Sierra Peaks
Where the yellow jack pines grow tall
Old Sandy, Bob and Buster Jigs
Had a roundup camp last fall
Oh,
they'd taken their horses and their running mines
And maybe a dog or two
And they swore they'd brand all long-eared calves
That came within their view
And any old doggie that flapped long ears
And didn't brush up by day
Got his long ears whittled and his old
hide scorched In the most artistic way
Now one fine day,
old Sandy,
Bob He'd throwed his easy go-down
Well,
I'm sick of the smell of this here burning
hair And I loathe how I'm going to town
So they saddled up and they hit some of the lope
Oh,
it weren't no sight of a ride And then was the days when a buckaroo
Could oil up his insides Oh,
they start her off at Kentucky Bar
At the head of a whiskey row And the
wine's up down by the depot house
Some forty drinks below Then sets up and turns around
And goes her the other way And to tell you the godforsaken truth
Them boys got stewed that day As they was a-riding back to camp
Back in a pretty good load Oh,
well,
who should they meet
But the devil himself a-prancing down the road
Says he,
you ornery cowboy skunks You better hunt your hoes
For I've come up from hell's rimrock To gather in your souls
Says Sandy,
Bob,
old devil be damned We boys is kinda tight
And you ain't gonna get no cowboy souls Without one hell of a fight
So Sandy,
Bob,
punched a hole in his rope And he swang her straight and true
And he lapped it on to the devil's
horns And he'd taken his dally stew
Now Buster Jigs was a red-headed man With his gut line coiled up neat
So he shakes her out and he built him a loop
And he lacerated up the devil's hind feet
Well,
they stretched him out and they tailed him down
While the irons was getting hot And
they cropped and swatted forth both his
ears And they branded him up a lot
They pruned him up with a dehorning saw
And they knotted his tail for a joke
But then rode off and left him there Naked to a black jack-o
So if you're ever up high in the Sierra
Peaks And you hear one hell of a wail
You'll know it's that devil a-bailin'
About them knots tied in his tail