Cowboy And The Hippie

(album: He Rides The Wild Horses - 1981)

On a highway thru the desert beneath an over pass
Sat two hikers just watching cars go by
Now one was wearing sandles with straggly matted hair
Rose colored glasses for his eyes

Now the other was a cowboy he'd been down on his luck
Lost his money at the Tuscon rodeo
And he sat beside what remained of his trusty pickup truck
And like the hippie now he's thumbing down the road

Some folks don't realize that it's a well know fact
Cowboy's and hippies ain't never got along
Was it just coincidence or some weird act of fate
That brought these two together on the road

They sat there without talking while the morning sun rose high
When a hot desert breeze commenced to blow
And the fragrance of the incense and six weeks without a bath
Finally drifted down and reached the cowboy's nose

Well man that really did it he couldn't take no more
And he tied his old bandana around his face
He said you greasy stinking hippie you'd put a skunk to shame
Boy you're a discrace to the human race

Now the hippie just sat there and gave the cowboy a smile
Said man you don't smell so sweet yourself
Well I'm not too sure what that green stuff is on your boots and on your jeans
But whew it's enough to make a buzzard belch

The cowboy said now listen I ain't gonna that that stuff from you
No long haired freaks gonna talk to me that way get up
Well the hippie said, now hold on man, what good's that gonna do
You know fighting never settles nothing anyway

Now we both love our freedom and we'll answer to no man
And you've heard it said to thine own self be true
We're just a couple of free spirts drifting across the land
Doing exactly what we want to do

Said now me I got my things and you you got yours
And I don't see why we can't get along
They say the closest thing to freedom is living on the road
In a country where freedom's almost gone

Well the cowboy, he just stood up there and never said a word
But you know this hippie sure made a lot of sense
They shook hands and parted as a truck pulled to the side
And the hippie he went East and I went West