Call Of The West

He got the high sign so he jumped a bus

and along the roads that wind on through

the hot mojave and the jericho / he'd start his whole life anew

and what he'd left behind he hadn't valued

half as much as some things he never knew

he got dropped off on a street in town

where a grey old man looked him up and down and said,

"son this ain't no western movie matinee

and you're a long way off from yippee yi yay

'cause i can tell at a glance you're not from 'round these parts.

got a green look about ya, and that's a gringo for starts

sometimes the only things a western savage understands

are whiskey and rifles and an unarmed man like you."

and then the old-timer pulled him close and said,

"you've come a long way, i know, you got a longer drive ahead

through the bones of a buffalo, through the claims of the western dead

and just like the spokes of a wheel you'll spin 'round with the rest,

you'll hear the drums and the brush of steel,

you'll hear the call of the west." / call of the west

you'll hear the call of the west / call of the west

(the conflict:) harshly awakened by the sound of six rounds of light

caliber rifle fire followed minutes later by the booming of nine rounds

from a heavier rifle, but you can't close off the wilderness. he heard

the snick of a rifle bolt and found himself staring down the muzzle of a

weapon held by a drunken liquor store owner. "there's a conflict," he

said. "there's a conflict between land and people...the people have to

go. they've come all the way out here to make mining claims, to do

automobile body work, to gamble, to take pictures, to not have to do

laundry, to own a mini-bike, to have their own cb radios and air

conditioning, good plumbing for sure, and to sell time/life books and to

work in a deli, to have some chili every morning and maybe...maybe to own

their own gas stations again and to take drugs and have some crazy sex,

but above all, above all to have a fair shake, to get a piece of the rock

and a slice of the pie and to spit out the window of your car and not

have the wind blow it back in your face."

now from the high timber lines to the deserts dry

who'll risk dangling on some hangman's tree?

to stake their claims on these prairie plains

while they say this lunch is not had for free?

just like the spokes of a wheel who'll spin 'round with the rest?

they'll hear the drums and the brush of steel

and i'll hear the call of the west / call of the west

i'll hear the call of the west / call of the west

("i used to be somebody! i used to be somebody, do you hear me? do you

hear me? i...i've been there! i used to be somebody, goddamn you! i've

been there before! don't walk away!")