MUSIC FOR SALE

The Tracker

Verse 1
The warden took a bite,
As the walls were set alight,
And thirty birds came fallin’ from the sky.
They took guns and they took lives,
Stole horses for to ride,
On down south where the Owens River roams.

Verse 2
The word came down from Carson,
Of breakout, blood, and arson,
Every lawman, hand, and wrangler hit the trail.
They took a Paiute man from Mono,
He knew each pine and madrono,
Could track a man by earth and sand and stone.

Chorus (half)
They said, “Come on, old Indian,
You’re Mono Jim, you can
Take us through the canyons and the plains.”

Verse 3
Jim led them through the sage,
A bitter night turned into burnin’ day,
And they came upon the devil of the lake.
Colts spat through the skin and bone,
Of Jim and lawman Morrison,
They bore one home, left the other to the wind.

Chorus (full)
They said, “Come on, old Indian,
You’re Mono Jim, you can
Take us through the canyons and the plains.
Now come on, old tracker,
We’ll find them all the faster,
And have you home when we got those men in chains.”

Verse 4
Those birds flew away,
But were hangin’ after several days,
While a lawman laid in state and was laid to rest.
The state named one peak after him,
The years named the other Mono Jim,
And the mountain holds the man who knew it well.

Chorus (final)
They said, “Come on, old Indian,
You’re Mono Jim, you can
Take us through the canyons and the plains.
Now come on, old tracker,
We’ll find them all the faster,
And have you home when we got those men in chains.
We’ll have you home when we got those men in chains.”