Cowboy Movie      (David Crosby)


Me and me 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
and you know, that's a signal from young Billy, who's our sentry
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, no, no, 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 better get your 12 gauge shotgun right out,
and I did, you know I did

Now Eli and the Duke they got down to it,
They each wanted that Indian girl for their own
and they finally got around to asking her
you know she said she'd come to take young Billy home, no, no, no, no

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" 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, oh no

Now I'm dying here in Albuquerque, I must be the sorriest sight you ever saw
You know the reason I'm the only one here to tell it
You know that Indian girl, she wasn't an Indian, she was the law.

David Crosby   1971 Atlantic Records
"If I Could Only Remember My Name.."