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The Catchpen

by John Egenes

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1.
I saddled up my young horse one day, I reckon I was tryin' to provide a means of escaping my own sorry life, so I took him out for a ride you might say that I was a knotheaded fool, to put a good horse through all that well, I ain't gonna argue, you're dang sure correct there wasn't much under my hat. Young and stupid, I was lost in a dream as I stumbled my way through it all we left California in the bud of the spring and didn't stop riding 'til fall pretendin' to know what the hell I was doin' I picked up a trail to the east and I drug him through all kinds of hell and high water not fit for human nor beast and it's yipee ki yo on the prairie where the deer and the antelope roam I'll put my trust in god and my horse 'cause they know how to find the way home So listen up all you drifters and bounders there's something you shouldn't forget what's done has been done, the race has been run but it dang sure ain't over just yet it's snowin' up there in the mountains and the river's beginning to rise And I still hear the sound of my horse on the range I can still see the fire in his eyes and it's yipee ki yo on the prairie where the deer and the antelope roam I'll put my trust in god and my horse 'cause they know how to find the way home
2.
Pickup truck, two lane road, rollin' down the line away from Louisiana that green eyed gal of mine I was only seventeen, she was twenty-two hypnotized, mesmerized, things I thought she knew she ran off with a hippie boy… never saw her again women do me wrong but the whiskey do me in barroom conversation, trouble at the door talkin’ to a drunk man, says you can’t fall off the floor cowboy hands his money to the redneck sellin’ weed the hooker in the corner and a bottle’s all I need a dark room and cheap perfume set my head to spin let them do their best let the whiskey do me in another empty night, life’s a big motel sometimes you make it to your room, sometimes straight to hell sometimes you check out early, sometimes overstay neon sign, no vacancy, gonna be the price you pay devil gonna get you but you just don’t know when livin’ do a number but the whiskey do me in oh, the devil have to take a number while the whiskey do me in
3.
I keep my bottle in a paper sack spend my day in a one room shack lookin’ out the window at the railroad track waitin’ on a train that won't be back clothesline blowin’ in the autumn air old blue jeans and underwear neighbors a-wonderin' what they're doin' there looks like rain but I don’t care CHORUS: it's tooth and nail for the one who rides that big steel rail to the finish line of the human race someone come along and take my place scarecrow lives across the way never has too much to say stands out there in the field all day scarin’ them damned old birds away preacher says there's a place for me when the angels get here to set us free but that don't come with a guarantee and I ain't as young as I used to be CHORUS: you find redemption in a paper sack retribution in a one room shack you leave your dreams by the railroad track settle up your debts and you dont come back
4.
Had a tough time last year, sweatin’ all the way Playing my guitar, trying to make it pay Diggin’ myself a dark hole, deeper every day But you know that’s been and gone And it seems I’m moving on Better luck next time son Who you gonna blame? Watch out for the flaming arrow Ain’t it just a game I’m supposed to play? I cut my trail, ain’t that time enough? Sittin’ in the saddle, ridin’ in the rough They thought I was a cowboy, but cowboys aint that tough. But you know that’s been and gone And it seems I’m moving on Better luck next time, son Who you gonna blame? Watch out for the flaming arrow Ain’t it just a game I’m supposed to play? storm clouds above and fire below we sold our lives just to see the show with rain comin’ through the window cracks and wolves howlin’ at the door but this freedom train don’t run no more the price we pay is only half the cost of what is gained and what is lost now the road we’re riding is coming to an end and right now the earth could use a friend Army scout, what are you looking for? Hoofprints on the prairie, the cavalry’s gone to war. It looks okay from where you stand but you know you can’t be sure ‘cause you know it’s been and gone And it seems you’re moving on So better luck next time, son Who you gonna blame? Watch out for that flaming arrow. Ain’t it just a game You were supposed to play? copyright 2004 by John Egenes
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7.
the whole wide world was changing when I was just a lad my parents wanted more for me than they ever had a red brick university, a view across the bay a sailing ship with great white sails to carry me away carry me away But I turned away from all of that and headed down the track my dreams were in my pocket and I never did look back the distance was my siren, horizon was my call I grew up knowing nothing, but I thought I knew it all I thought I knew it all I sailed the winds of destiny and the tempest it replied and set me in the shallows with the rising of the tide the rising of the tide an old man sat down next to me and in the instant that it took he started quoting scripture from an ancient leather book he said, there’s more where this came from if you just know where to look I dreamed I saw a shining light, where the highlands meet the sea a young girl on a silver horse runnin’ wild and free riding toward the setting sun, the dimming of the day to a sailing ship with great white sails to carry her away to carry her away she rides the winds of freedom until the fates decide to bring her home to rest once more on the rising of the tide the rising of the tide I’ve sailed into the harbor back from the great divide and rest here safe at anchor on the rising of the tide the rising of the tide
8.
With a halter and a lead rope, I step inside the pen the young horse keeps an eye on me as I walk about within. I don’t want to spook the mare, so I keep my eyes turned down pretendin' I'm more interested in what is on the ground. I keep my back turned to her, and not a word is said she finally sidles up to me, I slip the halter on her head It ain’t just what you do, it’s what you know It’s easy come and easy go Livin' in a line shack, forty miles from town not another living soul nearby, and my pickup truck’s broke down phone ain’t gonna work out here, the line don’t run this far barb wire fence is the only thing between me and the northern star so I saddle up the roan mare, throw my bedroll on for luck it’s two days ride to town and back, for a part to fix the truck it ain’t how tall the trees, it’s where they grow It’s easy come and easy go Poor man works the vineyard, rich man drinks the wine Each one knows the other, through the grapes upon the vine Cowboy works the cattle, horse is always there Each one knows the other through the saddle that they share and the moral of this story, if a moral can be found keep a good horse close to you, when you live this far from town 'cause it ain’t just who you are, it’s who you know It’s easy come and easy go

about

DON'T BUY THIS. IT'S NOT REALLY AN ALBUM. It's just a place where all my mavericks are caught up and kept. It'll continue to fill up as time goes by. If you want to pay something, I appreciate it. But I encourage you to download these tunes for free. Think of it as a guilty pleasure. Best, --je

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released October 1, 2014

John Egenes is the lone ranch hand here and does all the work. While he might deserve some credit, he sure enough deserves all the blame, too.

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John Egenes Dunedin, New Zealand

Download anything you see here for free (you can pay if you want, but you don't have to...) Author, multi- instrumentalist and session musician for countless artists, producer, songwriter, all around likeable guy.

And you might want to read his book, Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America
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