The Dreamer

(Album: All Around Cowboy - 1979)

When I was a young man beginning my teens
How well I remember the lickin's I'd get cause I'd dream
My work never finished, barely begun
I couldn't get started till all of my dreaming was done

I wouldn't shuck cotton', I wouldn't chop wood
And Pa would whip me and say that's for being no good
But I kept chasing rainbows, finally I found
The great open range and the hills were my best dreaming ground

When I left the home place our Mother did cry
She begged me to stay there and not say goodbye
My Pa told my Mother, your tears are in vain
Your son is a dreamer and the winds call his name

So don't try to stop him, let him move on
'Cause he won't stop his drifting
Till all of his dreaming is gone

Last night in a campfire a face I did see
A vision of Mother, she seemed to be calling to me
For seventeen years now, I've drifted alone
But I wanna see Mother, tomorrow I start drifting home

The last hill I've climbed now, and what do I see
An old run down shack where the ranch used to be
Then I see a tombstone and then see one more
I drifted too long from the old ranch house door

There's nothing more left now but drifting, it seems
But I hope I can dream of the lickin's I'd get
'Cause I'd dream