Tie A Knot In The Devil's Tail

Way up high in the Sierra peaks where the yellow jack pines grow tall

Old Sandy Bob and Buster Jiggs had a roundup camp last fall

Oh, they'd taken the horses and the runnin' irons and may be a dog or two

And they swore they'd brand all long ear calves that came within their view

And any old doggie that flapped long ears and didn't brush up by day

Got his long ears whittled and his old hid scorched in a most artistic way

Now one fine day old Sandy Bob he throwed his easy go down

Well I'm sick of the smell of this here burnin' hair and allows I'm a goin' to town

[ harmonica ]

So they saddles up and they hits 'em a lope for it weren't no sign of a ride

And them was the days when a buckaroo could oil up his insides

Oh they starts her off at Kentucky Bar at the head of a whiskey row

And they winds up down at the depot house some forty drinks below

And then sets up and turns around and goes her the other way

And to tell you the god forsaken truth them boys got stewed that day

As they was a ridin' back to camp a packin' a pretty good load

Well who should they meet but the devil himself a prancin' down the road

[ guitar ]

Say he you ornery cowboy skunks you better hunt your holes

For I've come up from hells Rim Rock to gather in your souls

Says Sandy Bob old devil be damned we boys is kinda tight

And ya ain't gonna get no cowboy souls without one hell of a fight

So Snady Bob punched a hole in his rope and he swang her straight and true

And he lapped it onto the devils' horns and he taken his dallies too

Now Buster Jiggs was a reita man with his gut line coiled up neat

So he shakes her out and he built him a loop and he lassoed up the devil's hind feet

[ harmonica ]

Well they stretched him out and they tailed him down while the iron was gettin' hot

And they cropped and swallow forked both his ears and they branded him up a lot

They pruned him up whit a dehorning saw and they knotted his tail for a joke

And then rode off and left him there neck to a blackjack oak

So if your ever up high in the Sierra peaks and you hear one hell of a wail

You'll know it's that devil a bellerin' about them knots tied in his tail