Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Pecos Bill

Pecos Bill

Pecos Bill
(Johnny Lange and Eliot Daniel)

Oh! Pecos Bill BILL was quite a cowboy down in Texas,
And a Western superman, to say the least.
He was the roughest, toughest critter, never known to be a quitter
'Cuz he never had no fear of man or beast.

cho: So, yip-pee-i-ay i-ay, yip-pee-i-oh
     Fer the toughest critter West of the Alamo.

Once he roped a ragin' cyclone out of nowhere
Then he straddled it and settled down with ease,
And while that cylcone bucked and flitted
Pecos rolled a smoke and lit it
And he tamed that orn'ry wind down to a breeze.

Once there was a drought that spread all over Texas
So to sunny Californy he did go,
And tho' the gag is kind of corny, he brought rain from californy
That's the way we got the Gulf of Mexico.

Once a band of rustlers stole a herd of cattle
But they didn't know the herd they stole was Bill's
And when he caught them crooked vill'ins
Pecos knocked out all their fillin's
That the reason why there's gold in them thar hills.

Pecos lost his way while travelin' on the desert
It was ninety miles across the burnin' sand,
He knew he'd never reach the border
If he didn't get some water
So he got a stick and dug the Rio Grande.

Now one day Pecos found his fav'rite dogie missin'
The dogie that was nearest to his heart,
So then he lassoed all the cattle
Clear from Texas to Seattle
That's the way the Texas round-up got its start.

While a tribe of painted Injuns did a war dance
Pecos started shootin' up their little game,
He gave them redskins such a shakeup,
That they jumped out of their makeup
That's the way the painted desert got its' name.

While reclinin' on a cloud high over Texas
With his gun he made the stars evaporate
Then Pecos saw the stars declinin',
So he left one brighly shinin'
As the emblem of the Lone Star Texas State.
From the Walt Disney movie "Melody Time"
XX
Oct00