Spanish Johnny

[Verse 1]

Those other years, the dusty years, we drove the big hearse through

I tried to forget the miles we rode and Spanish Johnny too

He'd sit beside a water ditch when all his herd was in

And he'd never harm a child, but sing to his mandolin

[Verse 2]

The old talk, the old ways, and the dealing of our game

But Spanish Johnny never spoke, but sang a song of Spain

And his talk with men was vicious talk when he was drunk on gin

Ah, but those were golden things he said to his mandolin

[Guitar and Mandolin Solos]

[Verse 3]

Well, we had to stand, we tried to judge, we had to stop him then

For the hand so gentle to a child had killed so many men

He died a hard death long ago before the roads come in

And the night before he swung, he sung to his mandolin

[Verse 4]

Well, we carried him out in the morning sun, a man that done no good

And we lowered him down in the cold clay, stuck in a cross of wood

And a letter he wrote to his kinfolk to tell them where he'd been

And we shipped it out to Mexico along with his mandolin