Strawbs - Beside The Rio Grande lyrics

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It happened rather suddenly that the Preacher came to town<br />

With stories from the Testaments of men of great reknown<br />

With his box of patent medicines he swore to cure all ills<br />

From the lameness in the horses, to the children's colds and chills<br />

And he had along his Indian wife and a country music band<br />

Who sang of peace and brotherhood beside the Rio Grande.<br />

<br />

Now the Preacher quickly gathered sick and poor from miles around<br />

Who came to him for comfort and to hear his country sound<br />

But the mayor thought he was trouble when he spoke against the law<br />

And he saw the growing power of the crowds that he could draw<br />

And he worried when the Preacher bought himself a plot of land<br />

To settle with his family beside the Rio Grande.<br />

<br />

The saloon was pretty crowded and the stakes was a-running high<br />

And the girls sang sentimental songs that made us cowboys cry<br />

We began to criticise the Preacher marrying a squaw<br />

And how could he associate with cripples, drunks and whores<br />

And in a crazy fit the Preacher scattered chips and winning hands<br />

And condemned it as a den of vice beside the Rio Grande.<br />

<br />

Now the boys were drunk and rowdy, and mostly pretty mean<br />

And we dragged him to the sidewalk and whipped his shoulders clean<br />

We said he was responsible for bringing on the drought<br />

That had burned off all the spring grass and had wiped the young herd out<br />

The sheriff would not get involved, the law could take no hand<br />

The Preacher had not harmed a soul.<br />

<br />

We pegged him on the hillside alongside two Apache braves<br />

Who'd been given picks and shovels and been made to dig their graves<br />

And when he asked for water stood and pissed around his feet<br />

While his tongue swelled up and blackened in the burning desert heat<br />

And someone said we ought to mark the Preacher with a brand<br />

To show that he did not belong beside the Rio Grande.<br />

<br />

Then the sky began to darken and a breeze whipped up the dust<br />

And some of us were frightened while others swore and cursed<br />

And the Preacher said a few words with his final dying breath<br />

About forgiving us for what we had done to bring about his death<br />

And as the night began to fall we covered him with sand<br />

And left his weary bones to bleach