Zebra Dun

Lyrics: Traditional/Unknown
Music: Traditional/Unknown

A song the New Riders played in their very early days in 1969.

We was camped on the plains at the head of Cimmaron
When along come a stranger and stopped to argue some
He looked so awful foolish, he talks awful round
We thought he was a greenhorn just escaped from town

He said he had lost his job upon the Santa Fe
And was going across the plains to strike some other way
He didn't say how come it, some trouble with the boss
And asked if he could borrow a nice fat saddle horse

Now this tickled all the boys to death, they laughed up their sleeves
We;ll lend you a fine horse, fresh and fat as you please
Shorty grabbed a lariat and roped the Zebra Dun
Brought him over to the stranger and waited for the fun

Now Zebra Dun he was an outlaw, he had grown so awful wild
Why he could paw the moon down, he could jump a mile
Dunny stood right still, just as if he didn't know
Until we got him saddled and ready for to go

You could see the tops of mountains under Dunny every jump
But the stranger he was glued there just like a camel's hump
The stranger sat upon him and twirled his black moustache
Just like a summer boarder waiting for the hash

Now the boss who had been standing round watching at the show
Walked over to the stranger and said you needn't go
If you can use a lasso like you rode the Zebra Dun
You're the man I've been looking for ever since the year one

Well now there's one thing and a sure thing I've learned since I've been born
Every educated feller ain't a plumb greenhorn.

We were camped on the plains at the head of the Cimmaron
When along came a stranger and stopped to arger some
He looked so very very foolish that we began to look around
We thought he was a greenhorn that had just 'scaped from town

We asked if he had he been to breakfast, he hadn't had a smear
So we opened up the chuck-box and bade him have his share
He took a cup of coffee and some biscuits and some beans
And he began to talk and tell about foreign kings and queens

About the Spanish War and fighting on on the seas
With guns as big as steers and ramrods big as trees
And about old Paul Jones, a mean-fighting son of a gun
Who was the grittiest cuss that ever pulled a gun

Such an educated feller, his thoughts just came in herds
He astonished all them cowboys with them jaw-breaking words
He just kept on talking till he made the boys all sick
And they began to look around just how to play a trick

He said he had lost his job upon the Santa Fe
And was going across the plains to strike the 7-D
He didn't say how come it, some trouble with the boss
But said he'd like to borrow a nice fat saddle horse

This tickled all the boys to death, they laughed 'way down in their sleeves
We will lend you a horse just as fresh and fat as you please
Shorty grabbed a lariat and roped the Zebra Dun
And turned him over to the stranger and waited for the fun

Old Dunny was a rocky outlaw that had grown so awful wild
That he could paw the white out of the moon every jump for a mile
Old Dunny stood right still as if he didn't know
Until he was saddled and ready for to go

When the stranger hit the saddle, old Dunny quit the earth
And traveled right straight up for all that he was worth
A-pitching and a-squealing, a-having wall-eyed fits
His hind feet perpendicular, his front ones in the bits

We could see the tops of mountains under Dunny every jump
But the stranger he was growed there just like the camel's hump
The stranger sat upon him and curled his black moustache
Just like a summer boarder waiting for his hash

He thumped him in the shoulders and spurred him when he whirled
To show them flunky punchers that he was the wolf of the world
When the stranger had dismounted once more upon the ground
We knew he was a thoroughbred and not a gent from town

The boss, who was standing round watching of the show
Walked right up to the stranger and told him he needn't go
If you can use the lasso like you rode old Zebra Dun
You are the man I've been looking for ever since the year one

Oh he could twirl the lariat and he didn't didn't do it slow
He could catch them fore feet nine out of ten for any kind of dough
And when the herd stampeded he was always on the spot
And set them to nothing, like the boiling of a pot

There's one thing and a sure thing I've learned since I've been born
That every educated feller ain't a plumb greenhorn