Angels Can Do No More

We laid poor Sammy to his rest

Dug a deep hole and did our best

To say the right thing as we knocked the dirt from the

shovel

So far from God and so near to a life of trouble

No more than a boy when he died like a man

We stood around his grave with our hats in our hand

Leanin' first on one foot and then on the other

Wishin' we'd a knowed what to say to write to his

mother

CHORUS:

But there ain't much to say when a man dies young

Before he can do what he should have done

Leastways the cowboys that knowed him swore

Sammy done his damnedest

Angels can do no more

We stared at our boots and nobody spoke

'Til the trail boss coughed, cleared his throat

And said to the cook, "Tear a plank off the

chuckwagon

And bring it here to mark the grave of our young

companion."

So the wranglers made a fire out of dry prairie coal

The wind fanned the flames 'til the brandin' iron

glowed

Then we burned in the wood the words we should've been

sayin'

Down on our knees like a bunch of growed men prayin'

CHORUS

Sammy rode hard and never complained

Two long years on the Rockin' Chair range

Chasin' them steers down the salt fork of the Red

River

Angels' and cowboys' work goes on forever

And as for myself when it's my time to die

I hope there's a cowhand or two standin' by

To pack down the dirt and carry the news to the

family

And say over me what we should've said over Sammy

CHORUS

CHORUS

Sammy done his damnedest

Angels can do no more