Play song 5:01
Rough String Rider
By Sons of the San Joaquin
Album: Sing One for the Cowboy
In a cattle outfit the horses from the remuda (saddle horses) were divided up between the cowboys. After all the good horses were taken, there were usually a group of "rough" horses that bucked a lot and were hard to ride. These became the rough string and went to the toughest cowboy in the outfit, the Rough String Rider.
Artist biography
He is not one filled with humor
But is silent around the fire
When the darkness brings the shadows
And the beauty of the stars
For he knows out in the darkness
There's an outlaw he must ride
At the first great light of mornin'
He must scratch that horse's hide
Rough string rider
He is not one of the cowboys
Who will laugh and talk and sing
He's a stranger there among them
Rider of the wild rough string
He's a legend on the cow range
One rough horses dread to see
And he'll ride the treacherous outlaw
Like a woman sippin' tea
Rough string rider
Rough string rider
Silent cowboy alone
Rough string rider
Is your heart of stone
All his actions are of beauty
Like a swan upon the lake
When his horse recoils like thunder
Like a striking rattlesnake
He is one that hides from nothing
Not afraid of man nor beast
And he rides the meanest horses
With the greatest sort of ease
Rough string rider
Rough string rider
Bronco pealer of steel
Rough string rider
Do you love, do you feel
Early morning black as midnight
When the clouds are overhead
And the darkness brings no shadows
And the lightn' shakes your bed
When the slickers are all a flappin'
In an icy kind of breeze
And their catchin' morning horses
And each man thinks he'll freeze
As each man calls for his day mount
Catch a gentle one of course
Rough string rider holds no quarter
He don't have a gentle horse
But he goes on like he did have
Like it's not a job just play
And he steps up on the bad one
Before the light of day
Rough string rider
Rough string rider
Man without fear
Rough string rider
Have you ever shed a tear
When each man comes to the cook fire
For coffee black and thick
And the winds unearthly cry'n
And the ground is cold and slick
When the slickers are all a flappin'
In an icy kind of breeze
And they're catchin' mornin' horses
And each man thinks he'll freeze
Rough string rider
He's a cool one when there's danger
Winter, summer, fall and spring
He's a stranger there among them
Rider of the wild rough string
Rough string rider
Rough string rider
Never has much to say
Rough string rider
When will you ride away
Rough string rider
Rough string rider
Rough string rider
Rough string rider
Rough string rider
Rough string rider....
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