Spanish Johnny

Those other years, those dusty years

When we drove the big hearse through

I tried to forget the miles we rode

and Spanish Johnny, you!

He'd sit beside a water ditch

When all his herd was in

He'd never harm a child

But sing to his mandolin

He sang the old songs, the old talk

And the dealin' of our games

Spanish Johnny seldom spoke

But sang songs of Spain

And his talk with men was vicious talk

When he was drunk on gin

But those were golden things he said

To his mandolin

We had to stand, we had to judge

We had to stop him then

See those hands so gentle to a child

Had killed so many men

He died a hard death long ago

Before the roads came in

And the night before he swung

He sang to his mandolin

We carried him out in the morning light

The man who done no good

Laid him down in a cold, cold clay

Stuck in a cross of wood

And a letter we wrote to his kinfolks

To tell'em where he'd been

We shipped it on down to Mexico

Along with the mandolin