Rayburn Crane Lyrics - The Western Years - Tom Russell

Rayburn Crane he rode these mountains like the streams he rode 'em through 

Through the Farewell Gap and the Franklin Lakes 

Up North to Chagupa Plateau 

With the government men and the hunters and the dudes 

And the leaders of the business world 

Yea, Rayburn Crane was a packhorse man 

And a mighty good hand with a mule. 

Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane 

The Mountains and the 

Valleys and the Trees Remember your name. 

He rode 45 years through the mountains 

And the valleys just a-pullin' them strings of mules 

And the ropes and the chaps and the halters 

And the saddles well these were 

Rayburn's tools Sittin' down at night by the firelight 

Talkin' and a-pullin' at the whiskers on his chin 

You didn't need no music when 

Rayburn went to talkin' 'bout the mountains and the packhorse men. 

Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane 

The Mountains and the 

Valleys and the Trees Remember your name. 

Well the business men they bought these mountains for a big time ski resort 

An Ol' Rayburn he's gone down to die in a 

Three Rivers' trailer court 

And the canvas-flapjack-cooktent moans with the bushes and the trees in the wind 

'Cause there ain't no place in a ski resort for a mule skinnin' packhorse man. 

Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane 

The Mountains and the 

Valleys and the Trees Remember your name. 

Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane 

The Mountains and the 

Valleys and the Trees Remember your name