Monument Canyon/Cowboy Movie

me and my good partners
we were riding
back to our camp
we were feeling very fine
the air was clear
and slightly damp
we were riding back
to have ourselves a party
to celebrate the
robbing of the train
we were talking
kind of low and lazy
about not having
to go out soon again

you know we hadn't been
back at home two hours
we heard a hawk cry
out in the night
you know that's a signal
from young Billy
who's our sentry
he's saying something here
ain't exactly right
so we quick grabbed
some of our hardware
stumbled out of our home
in two minutes flat
we had found her
an indian girl all alone
and Eli said
"let's take her
back to the cabin"
i said, "you don't know
she might be the law, yeah"
he said, smiling kind of nasty
"it ain't too damn likely
she'll beat me to the draw"

as we were walking
back through the darkness,
i heard the Duke
he's our dynamiter, say
he said, "what's your name,
sweet little indian girl?"
she said, "Raven"
and she looked away
right then i didn't trust her
and i said so, oh no
now, Eli, he's our fastest gunner
he's kind of mean
and young from the South
he said, "Fat Albert,
you're getting kind of
old and weird now"
"you'd better get your
twelve gauge shotgun out"

now Eli and the Duke
they got down to it
they each wanted
that indian girl for their own
but when they finally
got around to asking her
you know she said she'd
come to take young Billy home
Eli said he'd kill young Billy
he'd kill the Duke
and probably me too, yeah
the indian girl said
"go ahead now do it"
i said "stop it"
and she bit my thumb
nearly clean through
and when they finally
started to break down the door
i smeared my face up
with blood from my thumb
i laid down on the floor
and played real good possum
you know i'm crazy
but i ain't real dumb

now i'm dying
here in Albuquerque
i must be the sorriest
sight you ever saw
you know the reason
i'm the only man
here to tell it
you know that indian girl
she wasn't an indian
she was the law


--david crosby
cowboy movie