Melody Time Pecos Bill

from Melody Time movie, written by Eliot Daniel and Johnny Lange, performed by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers
Here's a tall tale, just the way the old timers used to tell them. Pecos Bill was the roughest, toughest shootingest cowpoke that ever lived. Any story about Pecos is bound to be strong medicine. Maybe it's best to sashay into it gently. Shades of night are falling As the wind begins to sigh And the world is silhouetted Against the sky Blue shadows on the trail Blue moon shining through the trees And the plaintive wail from the distance Comes a-drifting On the evening breeze Move along, blue shadows! Move along! Soon the dawn will come And you'll be on your way But until the darkness sheds its veil There'll be blue shadows On the trail Move along, blue shadows Move along, move along Soon the dawn will come And you'll be on your way On your way But until the darkness sheds its veil There'll be blue shadows On the trail Shadows on the trail Uncle Roy, what makes the wolves howl like that? Wolves? Those are coyotes. Yes, Bobby's right. They howl when the moon is bright. Why? That's quite a story. Cowboys in it? Yes, sirree. Indians, too? Could be two or three. Mostly this story's about Pecos Bill. Pecos Bill? Who's he? Never heard of Pecos Bill? Imagine! I thought everybody knows Pecos. Bill was the world's greatest buckaroo. The roughest, toughest critter Never was a quitter Cos he never had no fear for man or beast Pecos Bill was Easy, Trigger, I won't forget his horse, Widowmaker. Widowmaker? That's a funny name. That horse earned it, just the same. Widowmaker was Bill's best pal. Until along came that beautiful prairie gal. Shucks, a woman! But what a woman. She was fresh as the dew On a prairie rose A true thoroughbred From her head to her toes That there was Slue Foot Sue Sweet Sue I'd rather hear about the coyotes. You started to say Why coyotes howl at the moon that way? You're right. It all fits together. You can't tell one without the other. The story of Bill and that gal is the story of why coyotes howl. I'm getting to the details now. Here on the map of the old US, completely surrounded by wilderness, lies Texas. There are some other states. Like Wyoming. Milwaukee. Long Island South. Down Texas way, a river flows. Where it comes from nobody knows. Where it's going, don't no one care. Just glad it's leaving there. The Pecos River. Pure alkali. Naturally mean water. The buzzards won't even touch it. Into this fertile garden spot came a prairie cart. There was Ma and Pa and 16 brats, four hound dogs. And a couple of cats. Going west looking for elbow room. Sure could use some of the same. Crossing the river bed, something fell out on to his head. They didn't even know he was gone. The wagon just kept rolling along. It was Bill, poor little critter. Homeless as a poker chip. Along came night and a prairie moon Old Ma Coyote a-hurrying home She was due for a shock at her journey's end The stork had delivered a dividend One more than usual! It had never happened before. Probably one of them new-fangled models. Bill looked up and grinned Shucks! Ma's old heart just caved in Bill saw that he needn't fear He'd staked himself a claim here Headed straight for the chuck wagon. Bill was hungrier than a woodpecker with a headache. It followed as natural fact that Bill growed up with that coyote pack. He soon became the top hand in a way they all could understand. Little Bill couldn't rest till he'd proved himself the best. He studied other varmints, too, then showed them a trick or two. Outloped the antelope. Outjumped the jackrabbit. Bill even outhissed the rattlesnake. Then one day Across the burning sand A stranger came To the Pecos land The usual committee Was there today To welcome their guest In the usual way

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Fifty to one weren't no fair fight, but one plus Bill made it just about right. Well, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. They stuck together like warts on a toad, like birds of a feather. When Bill growed up, of course, he chose a career to suit him and his horse. Yep, Bill became a rootin', tootin' cowboy. Pecos Bill was quite a cowboy down in Texas The western superman, to say the least The roughest, toughest critter Never was a quitter Cos he never had no fear of man nor beast So yippee aye-ay, aye-ay! Yippee aye-o! For the toughest critter west of the Alamo. Once, a drought spread all over Texas, so to sunny Californy he did go. Though the gag is corny He brought rain from Californy That's the way we got the Gulf of Mexico For the toughest critter west of the Alamo Once a band of rustlers stole a herd of cattle but they didn't know it was Bill's. When he caught them villains, Pecos knocked out all their fillings. That's why there's gold in them hills. For the toughest critter west of the Alamo Pecos lost his way While travelling on the desert It was 90 miles across the burning sand He knew he'd never reach the border If he didn 't get some water So he got a stick and dug the Rio Grande While a tribe of painted Indians did a war dance Pecos started shooting up their little game He gave them such a shake-up They jumped out from their make-up That's how the Painted Desert got its name Reclining on a cloud high over Texas, with his gun, he made the stars evaporate. He saw the stars declining, so he left one brightly shining as the emblem of the lone star Texas state. Them was happy days for Bill and that horse. Looked like nothing could come between them. Then it happened. Bill was happy that day, inventing the one-man rodeo and butting heads with the buffalo. Poor Bill, happy as a hog in a turnip patch and then, Old Man Fate started dealing from the bottom of the deck. Down the stream came Slue Foot Sue, all her charms revealed to view. Like something from a dream, the first woman Bill's ever seen. She was strange. Yeah, but powerfully stimulating. Like a slug of rye on an empty stomach. Give him a right peculiar feeling, set his senses reeling, with a pounding inside his ears like the galloping of steers. His chest was churning His brain was burning with a fire that could only be cooled In the beckoning depths Of two blue limpid pools Yep, l'amour had come to Pecos Bill. Widowmaker was puzzled. Looked like trouble to him. He sure was right. Bill was busy inventing courting, western style. He arranged for the moon To risejust right And flood the land With a silvery light Ordered the stars In heaven above To form a token Of undying love Then across the sky In words of fire Bill told sweet Sue Of his own heart's desire Sweet Sue I love you Sue named the wedding day but Bill had a price to pay. Sue wanted a bustle, the finest, of course, and she aimed to be wedded riding Bill's horse. Sue got her bustle and it was classy. Put the finishing touch on her chassis. That happy blushing bride was busting with girlish pride. But Bill had promised her a ride on Widowmaker. Would that horse let Sue ride? Here comes the answer. Fit to be tied! Widowmaker was irritated. But that didn't bother Sue. She walked up to his side, touched his bristling hide. With a flick of her bustle, Sue was aboard and sat for the tussle. The proceedings commenced forthwith. No doubt about it, that Sue was a regular female buckaroo. And then that bustle. Underneath the frills and flounces, Sue developed plenty of bounces. More than she could handle. Then Sue took off like a Roman candle. That devilish contraption of steel and wire bounced the poor girl higher and higher. It was plain to the multitude that Sue was gaining altitude. Looked like she was a goner. But no! A ray of hope. Look! Bill and his trusty rope. He'd darned soon put a stop to this. Bill was never known to miss. Bill was calm, confident. He built his loop with careless ease. He judged his distance, tested the breeze. Then a whirl and a twirl and a twist of the wrist, he let her go! But the champion missed! How it come to happen, nobody could figure out. She was off again on her heavenly flight. Up she went, clean out of sight. Till, far into space, this unfortunate maid finally come to the moon, and that's where she stayed. In the state of Texas, USA, life still goes on in the same old way. The Pecos River still flows on, but the greatest cowboy on earth is gone. Yeah, Bill went back to the coyotes, but he never forgot Sue. Every night when the moon was high, he'd lift his voice in a mournful cry, bewailing the fate of his lady fair, his long-lost love in the sky up there. So painful was his grief to see, the varmints joined in out of sympathy. That's how come, to this very day, coyotes howl at the moon that way.

Just glad it's leaving there	Little Pecos Bill and Widowmaker	When Bill growed up	Bill even outhissed the rattlesnake

Once, a drought spread all over Texas	He brought rain from Californy	That's why there's gold in them hills	L'amour had come to Pecos Bill

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Pecos Bill