CHRIS LeDOUX
PAINT ME BACK HOME IN WYOMING

(ACS NR-10193)

December/1978
Produced by Al LeDoux


1.
PAINT ME BACK HOME IN WYOMING
(Jake Brooks - Dolly Allen)
« © '78 Brooks Bros Publishers, BMI / Lehsem Songs, BMI »

She was painting a picture of slum life when the cowboy came limping by
Wearing tattered old boots with one sole gone and a far away look in his eye
Well he watched for a while as she painted and then he said mama you surely paint well
Yes you got all this on your canvas the dirt the squalor and the hell
Well she asked to paint him in the setting ah but he shook his head slowly and low
He said naw I wont fit your picture unless you can paint be back home
Can you paint me back home in Wyoming riding free neath the big sky above
Free as the wind on the prairie out in the hills that I love
I long to get back to Wyoming and I've hoped all these years that I can
Please paint me back home on your canvas paint me back in Wyoming again

Well I never claimed this festered city
You know I was raised on a ranch out in the west
I spent my young years bustin' horses and boy they said I could ride with the best
So I came here to Madison Square Garden to ride in the big rodeo
Ah but I got stepped on and all crippled up and chute bronc bustin' is all I know
Ah boy if I could just get back to Wyoming I wouldn't feel so alone
Ah but the pain is too much for the roamin' so please can you paint me back home
Can you paint me back home in Wyoming...
**********
2.
AIN'T HAD TIME TO GO HOME
(Jake Brooks)
« © '78 Brooks Bros Publishers, BMI »

Well a bronc bucked me off up in Cheyenne Wyoming I broke me a couple of bones
My wife up an left me it must be an omen my destiny's being alone
I've been thinkin' of mama out a workin' the yard so I gave her a call on the phone
But I told her I've just been workin' so hard I just ain't had time to go home
Well I've seen Atlanta and I've seen LA and I've rode neath the big Astro Dome
And old Calgary seen a whole lot of me but I just ain't had time to go home

All daddy left was the watch that he carried the pocketknife he used to use
But a pawnshop in Vegas and the woman I married left me with nothin to lose
But I keep on a dreamin' bout a Cadillac car parked by my two story home
And in my dreams I'm a big rodeo star and mama knows I'm commin' home
Well I've seen Atlanta...
**********
3.
COWCAMP BLUES
(Chris Ledoux)
« © '78 Lehsem Songs, BMI »

The moon is shinnin' down through the pines
And it spreads its light across the mountain side
And I wonder what you're doin' tonight
Yes I wonder what you're doin' and I wonder if everythings alright
Well I'm up on this mountain and you're there in town
Sleepin' in your feather bed and I'm layin' on the ground
I never knew that I could feel so lost and all alone
And singin' such a lonesome cowboy song

Well I'm just a cowboy I'm workin' all day long
At night I eat my beef and beans and then I sing this song
Yes I wonder what you're doin' tonight
Yes I wonder what you're doin' and I wonder if everthing's all right
Well I'm up on this mountain...

Now them calves are bawlin' and I can't get no rest
That cold wind's a blowin' and I'm freezin' half to death
Yes I wonder what you're doin' tonight
Yes I wonder what you're doin' and I wonder if everthing's all right
Well I'm up on this mountain...

It won't be long now and I'll be comin' down
And I better not find any rednecks hangin' round
Yes I wonder what you're doin' tonight
Yes I wonder what you're doin' and I wonder if everthing's all right
Well I'm up on this mountain...
**********
4.
LEAN MEAN AND HUNGRY
(Chris Ledoux)
« © '78 Lehsem Songs, BMI »

Well I'm lean mean and hungry rude crude and dirty
The most folks that see me goin' down the road
I'm a bum and I'm lazy some think I'm crazy
But I'm just a cowboy tryin' to take that money home
Well I've been rodeoin' goin' and a blowin'
Up and down this highway searchin' for a dream
Someday I'll settle down right now I'm rambin' round
Cause I'm just a cowboy and that's all I wanna be
I ride for my wages to put food on the table
I gotta feed my family waitin' there at home
Oh you know I hate to leave 'em but Lord I need my freedom
But you know it won't be long till I'm comin' home
I ride for my wages...
I ride for my wages...
**********
5.
SIX BUCKS A DAY
(Bob Frank)
« © '78 Cletus Haegert Publishing, BMI »

I've been ramblin' out Montana way
Tryin' to live on a cow punchers pay
Been changin' them dams in the new summer hay
Irrigating alfalfa for six bucks a day
I'll tell you my story I'd be on my way
But the savings are slow to come on six bucks a day

Out here in the fields while the water runs down
With the sun high above me and the sky all around
I'm dreamin' my dreams of the Canada line
And the places I'd go if the money was mine
I'll tell you my story...

Come Saturday night well you draw out some pay
Then you go into town just to throw it away
And when the end of the month comes rolling your way
Well you ain't got much left on six bucks a day
I'll tell you my story...

Now if I drew out my time and I paid off my debts
I couldn't get to Great Falls on what I have left
But I've got me no choice when them diesel horns blow
Come a wind from the highway I got to pack up and go
Yeah money or none at all they can't hold me this way
For my blankets are rolled and tied and I'm leavin' today
**********
6.
GETTING BY A QUARTER AT A TIME
(Tony Bessire)
« © '78 Lehsem Songs, BMI »

She's not a kid anymore she can hide her age in these dim lights
Waitin' tables in this bar ain't what she's lookin' for
The short years fly by but oh the long long nights
A bar tends to make a woman hard
Read a story in the lines beneath her eyes
As tips hit the table they jingle and they jangle
Get her by a quarter at a time
She's getting by a quarter at a time a diamond in the rough has lost her shine
Slingin' drinks at least will pay the rent again get her by a quarter at a time

Another man stands up to leave she's always been left behind
The change she's waitin' for keeps walkin' out the door
But her quarters are sliver lined she's danced to everybody's tune
But gettin' stepped on don't make her cry
But after work the jukebox brings a little tear drop
The memories cost a quarter at a time
She's getting by a quarter...
**********
7.
NIGHT RIDER'S LAMENT
(Michael Burton)
« © '75 Groper Music, BMI »

While I was out a ridin' the grave yard shift midnight till dawn
The moon was bright as a readin' light for a letter from an old friend back home
And he asked me why do you ride for your money and why do you rope for short pay
You ain't a gettin' nowhere and you're losin' your share
Boy you must have gone crazy out there

He said last night he runnin' to Jenny she's married and has a good life
And boy you sure missed the track when you never come back
She's the perfect professional's wife
And she asked him why does he ride for his money
And tell me why does he rope for short pay
He ain't a gettin' nowhere and he's losin' his share
Well he must've gone crazy out there

Ah but they've never seen the Northern Lights
They ain't never seen a hawk on the wing
They've never spent spring on the Great Divide
And they've never heard ole camp cookie sing
Well I read up the last of my letter and tore off the stamp for black Jim
And when Billy rode up to relieve me he just looked at my letter and grinned
He said you know I wonder why do they ride for their money
Tell me why do they ride for short pay
They ain't a gettin' nowhere and they're loosin' their share
Son, they all must be crazy out there
They ain't never seen the Northern Lights
They ain't never seen a hawk on the wing
They've never spent spring on the Great Divide
And they've never heard ole camp cookie sing
**********
8.
HIPPIES IN CALGARY
(Chris Ledoux)
« © '78 Lehsem Songs, BMI »

Well a few years back when me and old John worked the Calgary rodeo
We were hangin' round town with nothin' to do and nowhere else to go
The cowboys are known for their fun loving ways pranks and practical jokes
And I'll never forget the night we impressed a bunch of them Calgary folks

Now just down the hall in the old hotel where me and old John stayed
Were some school marms they'd come up from Dallas to party for a couple of days
Now these old gals was fancy dressers they had wigs and beads and all
So we put on the hair and took off our boots and boggied down the hall

Well you could never tell we were cowboys we were real looking hippies by heck
With long hair barefeet and old T-shirts and beads around our neck
Shoot we just had to show someone so we boogied on down to the lounge
There was cowboys and gents in nice old suits and ladies in long evenin' gowns

Well, we found us a table and pulled up a chair and lit up them Bull Durham smokes
Smoke filled the air everyone there thought these hippies were smokin' dope
Now Leonard McCray and old Ronnie Rosin was sittin' two tables away
So we did what we thought that hippies would do when we noticed 'em lookin' out way

We'd wave our long hair and roll back our eyes and suck on them homemade smokes
Say stuff like cool and ya man wow we put one heck of a show
Now Ronnie and Leonard they'd been there awhile so they weren't feelin' much pain
And I reckon they figured they'd have 'em some fun
With these two hippie freaks that walked in

Well the bar got deadly quiet and these cowboys come strollin' our way
These city folks knew it wouldn't be long till the battle got underway
Now Ronnie he came right over me and he locked me square in the eye
Said hey there boy what's that stuff your smokin' I said here man give it a try

Well that didn't make him too happy and then when I told him to bug out
He blinked and snorted like a mad Brahma bull and frothed and foamed at the mouth
Just about then I looked at old John and his face had turned to beet red
Cause Leonard had grabbed him right by the throat with plans to tear off his head

Well Ronnie reached out with a huge left hand and grabbed a hold of my hair
With his right fist cocked he said now boy you'd better start sayin' your prayers
He gave a yank and my wig came off and lay limp there across his hand
A more stupified look I've ever seen on the face of any man

Well he dropped the think like a poisonous snake and stared at it there on the floor
And he looked up at me and saw who I was and laughed and gave out a roar
Well this story doesn't have any moral it was just one mighty good gag
But I sigh with relief Ronnie didn't swing first fore he pulled off my wig
**********
9.
PILGRIMS PROGRESS
(Bob Campbell)
« © '78 Lehsem Songs, BMI »

There's ghost ridin' prairies whistlin' through the air
There's dreams on main street broken dead and bare
And a river and a mountain grow older with the sky
Lookin' for some friends like those from days gone by
While the cowboys and the Indians roll across the range
The poor Buffalo die for silver change
While the renegades and the wranglers
Drank up half town damn if some pilgrims
Didn't tear the Wild West down

Circlin' like a vulturea all they'd pick the land to bits
Tearin' out its heart forcin' it to quit
Like an old ancient rustler the west just died away
Strangled by progress that greedy beast a prey
While the renegades and the wranglers
Drank up half the town damn if some pilgrims
Didn't tear the Wild West down
While the cowboys...
**********
10.
I'M COMING HOME MOM WALTZ
(Emmett Brooks)
« © '78 Lehsem Songs, BMI »

Stoke up the fire mom bake me a pie stick a big chicken in the skillet to fry
Bake me some biscuits a chocolate cake too I'm comin' home mom home to see you
Well it's been a long time now since I've been away I've been rodeoin' for many a day
Now I'm returnin' no more to be blue I'm comin' home mom home to see you
I met me a lady as sweet as can be I asked her to marry she said yes siree
No more to be lonely no more to be blue
Now were comin' home mom home to see you
I met me a lady...
**********

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Chris LeDoux Discography