Tyin Knots In Devils Tail chords
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Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 07:47:34 -0600
Tyin' Knots In The Devil's Tail
Traditional Cowboy Song
Recorded By Michael Martin Murphey
Tyin' Knots In The Devil's Tail
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Away up high in the Sierra Peaks,
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where the yellow jack pines grow tall
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Sandy Bob and Buster Jiggs had a round-up camp that fall
They'd taken their ponies and their runnin' irons
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and maybe a dog or two
And they allowed their brand on every long-eared calf
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that came within their view
Now many a long-eared doggie, that didn't brush up by day,
had his old ears whittled and his old hide fiddled
in a most artistic way
Now Sandy Bob, he said one day, as he throwed his cigar down
I'm tired of this cow-ography, and I allows I'm goin' to town
Instrumental break
Well they saddled their ponies and they struck up a lope
and how them boys could ride
And them was the days that an old cowboy
could oil up his old insides
Well, they started out in the Kentucky Bar,
at the head of Whiskey Row
And they wound up down at the Depot House about forty drinks below
Well, they set 'em up and they turned around,
and they went the other way
And I'll swear the God-forsaken truth, them boys got drunk that day
They mounted up and they headed for camp,
and they was a-packin' a heavy load
When who should they meet but the devil himself,
come prancin' down the road
Instrumental break
Well the devil said "You ornery skunks, you better hunt your holes
'Cause I'm the Devil from Hell's rimrock,
come to gather in your souls"
Sandy Bob said "Devil be damned, we may be a little bit tight.
But before you gather any cowboy's souls,
you're gonna have a helluva fight"
He swung his loop and he swung it straight
and he also swung it true
He caught the devil by both his horns and taken his dally too
Now Buster Jiggs was a reata man with his rawhide coiled up neat
He shook it out, built him a loop
and lassoed the devil's hind feet
Instrumental break
Well they stretched him out and they tailed him down
while their irons was a-gettin' hot
They cropped and swallow-forked his ears
and they branded him up a lot
And they left him there in the Sierra peaks,
next to a Blackjack Oak
But before they left, they tied some knots in his tail
just for a joke
So if you're ever up there in the Sierra Peaks
and you hear one helluva wail
It's just the devil a-yellin' about
them knots tied in his tail
Instrumental finish