Slim Dusty - Old Riders in the Grandstand lyrics

rate me

I'm seated in the grandstand at a big-time rodeo

With my walking stick beside me as I watch the scene below

There are youngin's ridin' outlaws as I did when young and free

And I wonder are there many old ex-riders here like me

The horses they are ridin', couldn't buck to save their hide

Oh I'd like to see these youngin's on the ones I used to ride

I've used the likes of spinifex for a night horse on the run

And brahma bulls like Wadgerra, we rode them just for fun

The saddles they are using are designed to hold you in

And the halter shanks are silky so as not to hurt your skin

We rode in flattened ponies, in the days of long ago

And could have rolled a smoke aboard the likes of Curio

The steers they use for doggin' are no bigger than a calf

And the time they take to throw them make us old timers laugh

We used to scrub big Mickey's twice the size in cattle yards

Oh but that was many years ago way back when times were hard

These youngin's dress so lairy in their fancy cowboy suits

We used to ride in moleskins and a pair of Bluecha boots

But all our glory's vanished, we're forgotten men, it seems

Old riders in the grandstand alone with all our dreams.

[From his album: "Rodeo Riders"

Contributed: Marten Busstra 2009]