Tom Russell - Claude dallas

In a land the Spanish once had called the ^GNorthern Mystery Where ^Drivers run and disappear and the ^Fmustang still lives free By the ^CDevil’s wash and the coyote hole in the ^Gwild Owyhee Range ^DSomewhere in the sage tonight, the ^Fwind calls out his name Ay-yi-^Amyi

Come gather round me buckaroos, a ^Gstory I will tell Of the ^Em7fugitive Claude Dallas, who ^Amjust broke out of jail You may think this tale is a history, from ^Gbefore the West was won But the ^Em7events that I’ll describe took place in ^Amnineteen eighty-one

He was born out in Virginia, left ^Ghome when school was through In the ^Em7deserts of Nevada, he became^Am a buckaroo He learned the ways of cattle, he ^Glearned to sit a horse He ^Em7always packed a pistol and he ^Ampracticed deadly force

And then ^CClaude became a trapper and he ^Gdreamt of the bygone days And he ^Dstudied bobcat logic and the ^Fwild and silent ways In the ^Cbloody runs near Paradise and the ^Gmonitors down south ^DTrapping cats and coytes and ^Fliving hand to mouth Ay-yi-^Amyi

Then Claude took to living all alone, out ^Gmany miles from town A ^Em7friend, Jim Stevens, brought supplies and he ^Amstayed to hang around That day two wardens, Pogue and Elms, drove ^Gin to check Claude out They were ^Em7seeking violations and to ^Amsee what Claude's about

Now Claude had hung some venison, he had a ^Gbobcat pelt or two Pogue ^Em7claimed they were out of season, he said, "^AmDallas, you're all through" But Dallas would not leave his camp, he re^Gfused to go to town As the ^Em7wind howled through the bull-camp they ^Amstared each other down

It's ^Chard to say what happened next, per^Ghaps we'll never know They were ^Dgonna take Claude in to jail, and he ^Fvowed he'd never go Jim ^CStevens heard the gunshot and ^Gwhen he turned around Bill ^DPogue was falling backwards, Conley ^FElms, he fell face down Ay-yi-^Amyi

Jim Stevens walked on over, there was a ^Ggun near Bill Pogue's hand It's ^Em7hard to say who'd drawn his first, but ^AmClaude had made his stand Claude said, "I'm justified Jim, they were ^Ggonna gun me down And a ^Em7man's got a right to hang some meat when he's ^Amliving this far from town"

It took eighteen men and fifteen months to ^Gfinally hunt Claude down In the ^Em7sage outside of Paradise, they ^Amran him to the ground Convicted up in Idaho, man^Gslaughter by decree ^Em Twenty years in maximum, but ^Amsoon Claude would break free

There's ^Ctwo sides two the story, there may ^Gbe no right or wrong The ^Dlawman and the renegade have ^Fgraced a thousand songs The ^Cstory is an old one, a con^Gclusion's hard to draw But ^DClaude's out in the sage tonight, he may ^Fbe the last outlaw Ay-yi-^Amyi

In a land the Spanish once had called the ^GNorthern Mystery Where ^Drivers run and disappear and the ^Fmustang still lives free By the ^CDevil’s wash and the coyote hole in the ^Gwild Owyhee Range ^DSomewhere in the sage tonight, the ^Fwind calls out his name Ay-yi-^Amyi