Marty Robbins – The Strawberry Roan

Marty Robbins – The Strawberry Roan, is a classic American cowboy song, written by California cowboy Curley Fletcher and first published in 1915, as a poem called The Outlaw Broncho. By the early 1930s, the song had become famous; in 1931 it was sung by a cowboy in the Broadway play Green Grow the Lilacs. It has become one of the best-known cowboy songs, found in dozens of collections of American folk music and performed on numerous recordings. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

The song tells the story of a bragging horse breaker who meets his match in a picturesque strawberry roan.

Marty Robbins – The Strawberry Roan
From the album Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs
Released 1959
Genre Western
Label Capitol
Songwriter(s) Curley Fletcher

TOP 100 WESTERN SONG

Marty Robbins – The Strawberry Roan lyrics

I was hangin’ ’round town, just spendin’ my time
Out of a job, not earnin’ a dime
A feller steps up and he said, “I suppose
You’re a bronc fighter from looks of your clothes.”
“You figures me right, I’m a good one.” I claim
“Do you happen to have any bad ones to tame?”
Said “He’s got one, a bad one to buck
At throwin’ good riders, he’s had lots of luck.”

I gets all het up and I ask what he pays
To ride this old nag for a couple of days
He offered me ten; I said, “I’m your man
A bronc never lived that I couldn’t span.”
He said: “Get your saddle, I’ll give you a chance”
In his buckboard we hopped and he drives to the ranch
I stayed ’til mornin’ and right after chuck
I stepped out to see if this outlaw can buck
Down in the horse corral standin’ alone
Is an old Caballo, a Strawberry Roan
His legs are all spavined, he’s got pigeon toes
Little pig eyes and a big Roman nose
Little pin ears that touched at the tip
A big 44 brand was on his left hip
U-necked and old, with a long, lower jaw
I could see with one eye, he’s a regular outlaw

I gets the blinds on ‘im and it sure is a fright
Next comes the saddle and I screws it down tight
Then I steps on ‘im and I raises the blinds
Get outta the way boys, he’s gonna unwind
He sure is a frog-walker, he heaves a big sigh
He only lacks wings, for to be on the fly
He turns his old belly right up to the sun
He sure is a sun-fishin’, son-of-a-gun

He’s about the worst bucker I’ve seen on the range
He’ll turn on a Nickel and give you some change
He hits on all fours and goes up on high
Leaves me a spinnin’ up there in the sky
I turns over twice and I comes back to earth
I lights in a cussin’ the day of his birth
I know there are ponies that I cannot ride
There’s some of them left, they haven’t all died
I’ll bet all my money, the man ain’t alive
That’ll stay with Old Strawberry
When he makes his high dive

GENIUS