Arlo Guthrie - Buffalo SkinnersLyrics

Traditional, arranged By Arlo Guthrie Come all you old time cowboys And listen to my song Please do not grow weary I'll not detain you long Concerning some wild cowboys Who did agree to go And spend the summer pleasant On the range of the buffalo. Well I found myself in Griffin In eighteen eighty-three When a man by the name of Creagho Come a'walkin' up to me Sayin "How do you do young fella And how'd you like to go And spend the summer pleasant On the range of the buffalo". Well me being out of work right then To that drover I did say "My goin' out on the buffalo range Depends upon the pay But if you pay good wages, Transportation to and fro I think I might go with you On the range of the Buffalo". Well yes I pay good wages And transportation too If you'll agree to work for me Until the season's through But if you do get homesick And you try and run away You'll starve to death out on the trail And you'll also lose your pay Well with all the flatterin' talkin' He signed up quite a train Some ten or twelve in number Of able bodied men And our trip it was a pleasant one Through all New Mexico Until we crossed Pease River On the range of the buffalo It was there our pleasures ended And our troubles all begun A lightnin' storm come up on us And made the cattle run We got full of the stickers On the cactus that did grow And the outlaws waited to pick us off In the hills of Mexico Well the working season ended But the drover would not pay He said "You spent your money boys You're all in debt to me". But the cowboys never put much stock In a thing like a bankrupt law So we left the bastard's bones to bleach On the range of the buffalo.