The Ballad of Bart McGee Lyrics

Come hear the story of Bart McGee
Inyo County deputy 1873
Chavez gang was running wild, raising hell
Bart tracked 'em but things did not go well
Them bandits circled 'round and they caught him unaware
Took him to their hideout, tied him to a chair
They spent the night talking 'bout the things they could do
To Bart McGee before they got through
Maybe they would skin him, to drag him from a horse
Maybe they would hang him, they might shoot him o'course
Bart just sat there as if he hadn't heard
Through it all he never said a word
Yeah this was desert country, all sage brush and wind
Beyond the Saline Valley, where hopes run mighty thin
Them bandits drank their whiskey and just outside the door

Was a bronco mule they'd stole the day before
Them bandits roped that mule and they tied to the shack
Stripped ol' Bart naked and they stuck him on its back
And they turned him around 'til he was pointed east
And they tied his legs together underneath
They untied that mule and they slapped it on the rear
It went crackin' through the sagebrush like a wild deer
They kept Bart's horse, his saddle and his guns
And they figure Bart Mcgee's days were done
Well that mule tried to buck him off, and through the Choya danced
Bart knew that stayin' with him, was his only chance
Ol' Bart had fought the Paiute and he'd killed a grizzly bear
And he could ride anything with hair
Well the sun burnt his naked butt and wind chapped him dry
And he broiled like bacon, underneath that desert sky
He'd slap that mule upside the head to turn him left or right
It was handlin' good when the moon come up that night
He made fifty miles, it ended none to soon
He topped the hill at Cerro Gordo that next afternoon
The drunks outside the Gem Saloon could not believe their eyes
When a naked man on a mule trotted by
We all asked what happened, Bart never said a word
He yanked out the cactus thorns, put ointment on his burns
And he bought a horse and rifle and set out on his way
But what he meant to do he wouldn't say
A week went by without a word and we all feared the worst
Had them bandits got him, had he died of thirst
Finally he come ridin' back leadin' his old horse
And he also had his hat and guns o'course
And the robbin' and killin' all came to and end
Not one of that Chavez gang was ever seen again
We asked Bart about it, and when we'd asked enough
He said "I just went back and got my stuff"
Come hear the story of Bart McGee
Inyo County deputy 1873
And you know he kept that mule for the rest of its life
And he treated it better than some men treat their wives
Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, a a huh, uh huh, ohh ho oh oh, oh ohho oh oh
Lyrics Submitted by Cameron Wilkinson