The Long Riders

Ry Cooder The Long Riders Lyrics
1.The Long Riders

(ry cooder)

Instrumental


2.I'm A Good Old Rebel

(traditional, arranged by ry cooder)

Oh, i'm a good old rebel
Now that's just what i am
For this fair land of freedom
I do not care a damn.
I'm glad i fought against it
I only wish we'd won.
And i don't want no pardon
For anything i've done.

I hates the yankee nation
And everything they do,
I hates the declaration
Of independence, too;
I hates the glorious union-
'tis dripping with our blood-
And i hates their striped banner,
I fought it all i could.

Three hundred thousand yankees
Stiffen in southern dust
We got three hundred thousand
Before they conquered us
They died of southern fever
And southern steel and shot
And i wish it was three million
Instead of what we got.

I want to reconstruct it
I'm better now than then
And for that carpet beggar
I don't give a damn
So i'm a forward the frontier
Soon as i can go
I could bear a weapon
And start for mexico


3.Seneca Square Dance

(traditional, arranged by ry cooder)

Instrumental


4.Archie's Funeral(Hold To God's Unchanging Hand)

(traditional, arranged by ry cooder)

Instrumental


5.I Always Knew You Were The One

(david lindley)

Instrumental


6.Wildwood Boys

(j. dickinson-r. cooder)

This here was our situation
We was just young wildwood boys
New as the birth of the nation
The kind that the army employs
High riding rebs from missouri
Fought for the grey ???
Caught up by the battle and the fury
Back when just living was hell

After the battle was over
And after the union had won
It was quitting that made us the loser
So we kept doing just what we'd done
Riding as comrads together
We looted the trains and the banks
Removing that carpetbag money
And sticking it hard to the yanks

Death always follows behind you
When you ride down that old outlaw trail
Someday a bullet will find you
Or you'll rot like a corpse in some jail
Turning your back to the danger
Is a wager no man can afford
'cause gold turns a friend to a stranger
Like old judas turned on our lord

Men are revered and remembered
While they lay in that coffin and rot
Some live in the legends of history
Most are forever forgot
The victory it goes to the strongest
And only the strong will survive
Survival is living the longest
But nobody gets out alive

The questions don't never get answered
And the rights, they're remembered all wrong
The facts, they can get plenty confusing
So someday if you happen to be singing this song
Remember it's just for the record
You can't change the handwork of fate
And tell 'em i lived for the moment
And i died when i tried to go straight


7.Better Things To Think About

(ry cooder)

Instrumental


8.Jesse James(Another Version)

(neil morris)

I'll tell you about jesse and frank james
My grandfather was personally acquainted with them
My grandfather lived in the southern edge of baxter county,
arkansas
And they stayed all night with him lots of nights
And my grandfather told me there was a lot of those robberies
that was layed to jesse and frank james
And he knew they didn't do it 'cause they was at his place when
it happened
But you couldn't tell the public that
When they get their minds made up that somebody's done something
Why the public's gonna stick to it anyway
My grandfather, he knew them as boys
And they could come to his place and go without anybody paying
attention 'cause nobody expected them
Down in arkansas, see, 'cause they was from missouri
Now that's the story that my grandfather told me when i was just
a boy
And he said that frank james, at that world's fair,
I think it was 1901 in st. louis him and jesse were both there
My grandfather and frank james were together there
And that frank james offered to bring jesse there alive
He said that the man that the ford boys killed wasn't jesse
james at all
But the fellow they killed was just about the size of jesse and
he was red headed
And he wasn't any relation to the fords
See, jesse james was a known cousin to charles and bob ford
That's what my grandfather said
He said jesse and frank were not even in that part of the
country when that fellow was killed
And the ford boys, why, they collected a thousand dollars for
killing jesse james!
Now the song says that the ford boys killed jesse
None of us up here in the mountains believe that, no sir!


9.Cole Younger Polka

(d. lindley-r. cooder)

Instrumental


10.Escape From Northfield

(ry cooder)

Instrumental


11.Leaving Missouri

(david lindley)

Instrumental


12.Jesse James

(traditional, arranged by ry cooder)

Jesse james we understand
Has killed him many a man
He robbed the union trains
But history does record
That bob and charlie ford
Have laid jesse james in his grave

It was on a saturday night
The stars were shining bright
When they robbed that union train
And it was one of the younger boys
That gathered in the spoils
And carried that money away

In his small home unaware
A-straightening pictures there
He thought he heard a noise
And as he turned his head
Well, the bullet killed him dead
Fired by bob ford, one of the boys

Poor jesse had a wife
She lived a lady all her life
The children they were brave
But history does record
That bob and charlie ford
Have laid poor jesse, laid poor jesse
Have laid jesse james in his grave


13.Rally 'round The Flag

(traditional)

Yes, we'll rally 'round the flag, boys
We'll rally 'round again
Shouting the battle cry of freedom
We will rally from the hillside
We'll gather from the plain
Shouting the battle cry of freedom

The union forever, hurrah boys, hurrah
Down with the traitor, up with the star
While we rally 'round the flag, boys
Rally once again
Shouting the battle cry of freedom

We will welcome to our numbers
The loyal, true and brave
Shouting the battle cry of freedom
And although he may be poor
Not a man shall be a slave
Shouting the battle cry of freedom

So we're springing to the call
From the east and from the west
Shouting the battle cry of freedom
And we'll prove a loyal crew
To the land we love the best
Shouting the battle cry of freedom