The Banks Of The Musselshell Lyrics

The Banks of the Musselshell

I stare up every evenin'
At the distant Northern Star
It leads us ever Northward
Tells us that we are
Lost alone in the Yellowstone
In a land unknown to me
Ten thousand miles from loved ones
And our homes across the sea

We travel through this empty land
The benches are all strewn
With Bison bones that shine ghost white
With the risin' of the moon
And the gray wolf howls an answer
As I try to sing on guard
Indentured to these Texans
In a land so wild and hard

When I hired on to Bill DuCharme
In the heat of the Texas sun
I was unaware of his darker side
His quickness with a gun
But I made a solemn promise
To ride with him through hell
And deliver this herd to the ends of the earth
Or the mouth of the Musselshell

And I just turned 'bout sixteen
When we hit that first cow town
I drank my first strong liquor
And the women whirled me round
But of all the barroom angels
And their soft forbidden charms
I was stuck on blue-eyed Annie
She belonged to Bill DuCharme

Chorus:
And the boy became a man
That night in Annie's arms
Annie cried and begged me Ian Tyson - The Banks Of The Musselshell - http://motolyrics.com/ian-tyson/the-banks-of-the-musselshell-lyrics.html
Beware of Bill DuCharme

We left that Texas cow town
And we pointed that trail herd north
But the first night when the moon was down
I rode back to old Fort Worth
They were closin' up the barroom
They were rollin' up the floor
And my heart was in my throat
When I knocked on Annie's door

Repeat Chorus

And Bill DuCharme had one bad eye
His face was a devilish red
The results of a bygone prairy fire
When he crawled back from the dead
And every night in dreams
I rolled in Annie's arms
And I woke to face old Satan
In the guise of Bill DuCharme

And each night across the campfire
I would face that one bad eye
Did he know that I'd betrayed him
Had my hour come to die
One promise he made good
Yes, we followed him through hell
Driven by this one-eyed Lucifer
To the banks of the Musselshell

But now near the Yellowstone
The snow begins to fall
And soon this dreadful enterprise
Will be ending for us all
And it's then I'll need fast horses
To fly to Annie's arms
And stay one jump ahead of
The guns of Bill DuCharme

Repeat Chorus twice