Claude Dallas Ian Tyson

In a land the Spanish once had called the Northern Mystery
Where rivers run and disappear the mustang still is free
By the Devil's wash and coyote hole in the wild Owyhee Range
Somewhere in the sage tonight the wind calls out his name
Aye,aye,aye

Come gather 'round me buckaroos and a story I will tell
Of the fugitive Claude Dallas who just broke out of jail
You might think this tale is history from before the West was won
But the events that I'll describe took place in nineteen eighty-one

He was born out in Virginia,left home when school was through;
In the deserts of Nevada he became a buckaroo
And he learned the ways of cattle,and he learned to sit a horse
And he always packed a pistol,and he practiced deadly force

Then Claude he became a trapper,and he dreamed of the bygone days
And he studied bobcat logic and their wild and silent ways
In the bloody runs near Paradise, in monitors down south
Trapping cats and coyotes,living hand to mouth
Aye,aye,aye

Then Claude took to livin' all alone out many miles from town
A friend--Jim Stevens--brought supplies and he stayed to hang around
That day two wardens--Pogue and Elms--rode into check Claude out
They were seeking violations and to see what Claude's about