Spanish Johnny

(Paul Siebel)

Waylon Jennings & Emmylou Harris

Those other years the dusty years

We drove the big herds 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.

The old talk, the old ways

And the dealing of our game

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.

--- Instrumental ---

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 road come in

And the night before he swung

He sung to his mandolin.

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 the letter we wrote to his kinfolk

To tell them where he'd been

And we shipped it out to Mexico

Along with his mandolin...