Old Cisco Lyrics

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1) Way up on the great Divide, out Montana way,
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Where the snow stays all summer long, and the grizzlies
like to play,
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There's a story told to this very day about that
fearsome land,
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And the legend of ol' Cisco, a genuine mountain man.
2) 'Twas in the spring of '41, he came up from New
Orleans,
Up the Mississippi to ol Saint Jo on a steamin' river
queen,
The Missouri on a flatboat worked him by and by,
Just a scamp at seventeen with a wild look in his eye.
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Chorus: Because he'd heard all the tales of wild spaces
to the west,
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Snow-capped mountains shining far and wide,
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And he knew he had to go, 'cause he could never rest,
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Until he caught the taste of freedom in that blue
Montana sky.
3) He teamed up with Wild John Johnston, and they
wintered on the Musselshell,
The Crow gave him trouble, and the Blackfeet gave him
hell,
But Cisco was a fighting man, and he learned to make his way,
If someone asked him why, this is what he'd say:
(Chorus)
4) He walked along the Great Divide, he trapped where
no man would go,
He shook his head with sadness the day the settlers
came below,
He watched the iron horses come, steel across the land,
But he couldn't change his ways, he was just a mountain
man.
5) The years rolled on, and so did he, his beard turned
shades of grey,
And every few months he's come to town with a load of
furs to trade,
Us younger lads would gather 'round, and we'd ask him
how it was,
And he'd settle down with that big ol' grin and answer
why because,
(Chorus)
'Twas in the winter of '92 when they brought ol' Cisco
down.
On a wagon full of hay they rolled him into town,
He turned his head up to the sky, his voice was weak
and low,
And one more time he told us boys how it was he had to
go.
(Chorus)
And then he closed his eyes,
To that blue Montana sky.

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