THE BIG D RIGHT OF WAY
BRENN HILL/RED CLIFFS PRESS MUSIC (BMI)

I made my bed inside the tack room
On old saddle blankets made of wool
The smell of horse sweat driftin' through my dreams
Made my wild and wooly heart so full

The mornin' was cold as a kiss
From the lips of your mother-in-law
As I saddled up the little sorrel geldin'
And fingered an old snaffle in his jaw

I longed him in the high and broken sagebrush
With Carter Downing lookin' down at me
From the back of an old gangly outlaw
That his mother-in-law gave him for free

We opened the gate to the cattle
And they started joggin' down the Mackey Draw
Eleven hundred mamas and their babies
The Downing boys our broncos and their pa

With the trucks and the pens still in sight
I saw a couple pairs change their mind
And turn back from the herd and go to runnin'
For the green grass they had left behind

So I turned the little head of the sorrel
And I spurred him on to save the precious few
And he loped to a gallup long beside them
And then what did that rascal decide to do

But drop his head and hump and go to buckin'
Ol' Hardy Downin' hollered cross the draw
You got him son just keep yer seat and spur him
I looked up and I weakened when I saw

The rocky wash that broke down to the bottom
Was comin' quicker than a salesman talks
I loosed up my legs and I ejected
And landed on my tailbone in the rocks

And me and Hardy watched Ol Jasper buck
And buck and buck and buck and buck some more
With the boys a whoopin' and the herd a runnin'
And me a limpin' gimpin' broke and sore

I caught the sorrel geldin' down the draw
I re-cinched and I gathered up the reigns
And I climbed aboard and turned his head and spurred him
In spite of all my aches and pains

An hour in the herd was settled down
The boys were healin' calves just for fun
The dun colt that Kalon had been poniein'
His days as an outlaw were done

Ol Carter snubbed him I walled up behind him
Kalon got a wild look in his eye
He stepped up on the dun colt and he spurred him
And pointed his face up to the sky

And friends I'll tell ya' I have seen some bronc rides
But never have I seen one quite like that
With Carter whoopin' ridin' long beside them
And Kalon spurrin' fannin' his old hat

And when that wild ride had all but ended
Ol' Kalon looked up with a salty grin
The colt was broke and lathered head to paw
And lookin' pretty glad to let Kalon win

And I loped out in front to open gates
We made it to the last long ridge and then
We pushed the herd headlong into a hail storm
And they started turnin' back on us again

The sorrel gelding he was losin' heart
As we finally topped out on the Cedar Rim
That looks down into Francis and the meadows
And I reigned up and stepped down off of him

There was no doubt my tailbone was broken
There was no doubt the sorrel was broken too
The herd fanned out and drifted down the canyon
The work's all done there's nothin' more to do

But wait for trailers load up and head back
And thank the Lord for one more golden day
Ridin' with my brothers from other mothers
Trailin' on the Big D Right or Way
Trailin' on the Big D Right of Way