Caitlyn Taussig

Two Hearts 

The grass is frosty under my hooves
The nighthawk is calling as the morning dawns
When you come for us, our heads to the ropes
Your houlihan around my neck, I’m part of your hopes

You wear your silver, I’ll wear mine too
Swing up in the saddle, we’ve got work to do
When we fly together, and the grass waves gold
Two hearts beating, we have one soul

I can taste the copper braces on my tongue
We get to the branding trap before the midday sun
I work to the cadence of my rein chains’ swing
High above us I can hear the redtail’s scream

You wear your silver, I’ll wear mine too
Sitting tall in the saddle, there’s still work to do
When we fly together, and the grass waves gold
Two hearts beating, we have one soul

The day’s work is over, we’ve got a long walk ahead
Till grass and cool water, and my green meadow bed
My sweat is drying, the dusk air grows still
My heart is singing with the song of the whippoorwill

You wear your silver, I’ll wear mine too
Step down from the saddle, the day’s works through
When we fly together, and the grass waves gold
Two hearts beating, we have one soul

Mountains of Colorado
I love the smell of the rain on the sage
And the glow of the dust when the sunlight fades
Ridin’ back and our horses are tired
Lookin’ for home down that old barbed wire

Singin’ Ooo-whoop-ooo whoopee tie yi yaaay
Hope to hell it’ll always be this way
Ooo-whoop-ooo whoopee tie yi yoooooh
Here in the mountains of Colorado

The first of October and a hard winter’s frost
We turn up our collars ‘cause the summer is lost
Ridin’ high through snow covered pine
We’re bringin’ em home boys don’t leave any behind

And it’s Ooo-whoop-ooo whoopee tie yi yaaay
Hope to hell it’ll always be this way
Ooo-whoop-ooo whoopee tie yi yoooooh
Here in the mountains of Colorado

My old paint horse spent his life workin’ hard
Now he’s wasting away out in the yard
There ain’t nothing for it Lord knows we tried
I’ll see you again, friend, on the other side

Ooo-whoop-ooo whoopee tie yi yaaay
Hope to hell it’ll always be this way
Ooo-whoop-ooo whoopee tie yi yoooooh
Here in the mountains of Colorado

Dad’s Song

I found my daddy settin’ in his rockin’ chair lookin’ out the window today
He was rememberin’ the good old days as he looked out over the sage
He said “Did I tell you bout the place I was raised, the ranch we called Ute Park?
We learned what hard work meant in those days, way up the Williams Fork”

Oooo those white-faced cattle on that high country grass
Snow up on the divide
Carry me up to Ptarmigan Peak
Spread my ashes there when I die

Let me give you some advice now girls when those young horses give you a turn
Listen close and I’ll tell to you what took me a long time to learn
Don’t use horses like we did, we was too damn rough in those days
Keep your mind in the middle and a gentle touch on the reins

Oooo those white-faced cattle on that high country grass
Snow up on the divide
Carry me up to Ptarmigan Peak
Spread my ashes there when I die

My legacy’s up in those snowfields girls on Ptarmigan way up high
Come spring it’ll all melt down you know, I’ll be back on the ranch in July
You’ll see me in the timothy heads that wave in the afternoon breeze
Think of me out on your favorite horse, I’m the sun that’s kissin’ your cheek

Oooo those white-faced cattle on that high country grass
Snow up on the divide
Carry me up to Ptarmigan Peak
Spread my ashes there when I die

Carry me up to Ptarmigan Peak…
With nary a tear in your eye

North To Denver

I hired on with Charlie in the spring of '66
Poppin' strays and mavericks from the west Texas sticks
There were long days and wet blankets but the lead horns traveled well
Headed north to Denver on that Goodnight Loving Trail

We drove em west from Belknap when the gather was all done
Our lips were cracked and bleedin' in that scorchin' Texas sun
Then one night on Trinchera I'll be damned if it didn't snow
We were freezin' and a burnin' on that Goodnight Loving road

Chorus
Ooooo....Ooooo
Singin' to the night herd with the lonesome coyote's wail
That spring I found my freedom on the Goodnight Loving Trail

The Llano Estacado is the driest place I've seen
They walked 100 miles there without a drop to drink
When the lead steers smelled the water we knew we'd made it crossed alive
They nearly drank the Pecos on that Goodnight Loving drive

One Arm Bill and Oliver went on to Santa Fe
They came upon Comanches on the tablelands that day
They had to make their stand now boys it must have been a sight
There were two against a dozen in that Goodnight Loving fight

Chorus

Loving got his wrist shot up but One Arm Bill got out
He swam for help in darkness, walkin' 80 miles south
By the time we reached Fort Sumner Loving's luck had all run bad
He was the closest friend that Charlie Goodnight ever had

Loving's arm was poisoned and his eyes were growing dim
Charlie made a promise to return him home again
He said, "So long Texas, I'll be back again someday"
A livin' and a dyin' in that Goodnight Loving way

Chorus

Years went by and we got old, my body finally gave
Charlie put a headstone up for me, a former slave
He never shirked a duty, never disobeyed an order
Remember him forever in your Goodnight Loving lore

Chorus

Cowgirl's Lament

Verse
Today I was out riding fences
We're all building walls cause it's all that we know
Sometimes it just seems senseless
All fighting so hard just to make a go

And tonight I'll be back at the diner
Serving coffee to men who been out on the road
I should've been born way back when
And Lord knows I should've been a man

Chorus
I'd spend my youth
Out on the prairie
Too wild to get married
Too broke to go home
Days and weeks in the saddle
Just the sky and the cattle
And miles to roam...

Verse
My schoolmates are all getting married
Settling down, a family to make
Spend my days alone in a kitchen
Now that's a life I just couldn't take

Cause my heart it's still out in the mountains
Riding away 'cross the Great Divide
I want my life to be cattle and horses
The feel of old leather and the smell of rawhide

Chorus

Verse
I have a heartache it don't ever leave me
I feel it inside way deep down
All I want is to saddle my pony
But instead I drive into town

Cause the times they are a changing
But the old ways, they haven't all gone
We are still here and we will remember
Life is short, but tradition is long

Chorus

Sierras and the Rockies

Born in Sacramento, she yearned for the land
Her daddy loved green things and dirt on his hands
High in the Sierras in a cabin in the pines
She was runnin' east, left that city far behind

Far and wide she roamed
She's on her way home

Chorus
The Sierras and the Rockies oh they couldn't hold her back
Big dreams and worn out jeans and she still stayed on track
There were dusty roads and highway miles and odd jobs in between
The California girl with the Colorado dream...

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison was all that she wished
Elk calves playing 'round the door and calling in the mist
A man's hard work, a cowboy wage, rank horses in the string
There she honed her wild ways, she didn't want a thing

Far and wide she roamed
She's on her way home

Chorus

The valley of the Williams Fork, the most beautiful she'd seen
White capped mountains standing tall o're fields of waving green
She met him for the first time on the front porch in the sun
She left her heart there in his hand, she said, "My wanderin's done"

Far and wide she roamed
She said, "Now I'm home"

Chorus

I see myself in your blond curls, your eyes of deepest blue
I see you got my workin' hands I passed right down to you
These cowboygirls that I have raised, they are my legacy
I want for you adventure, I want you to be free

Far and wide you'll roam
But I know you'll come home

Chorus