I was signing books this weekend and talking to a lady who had bought my books for her husband in October. She said that her husband wanted to know about the song that Two-Bit and B.G.E. sing in Victory Road. It was written by my friend Mark Bowling….I thought that I would repost the passage here, and put a link to Mark singing I was a Cowboy.
“It was later on as that campfire was dying down and the artillery fire had dropped off when Sam heard two soldiers that he recognized as Hoar and Beams singing a cowboy’s lament in fine tenor voices, and the song moved him to tears:
I met an old man at a roadside cantina
Somewhere in New Mexico
He said sit down son and I’ll tell you a story
About this one horse rodeo
Well a long time ago I was born down in Texas
But here’s where I’ll make my last stand
My pa was a farmer but I was cut different
I never could work the hard land
Oh but I was a hero and I was a cowboy
Out on the range I would ride like the wind
I pray that some day, the good Lord will take me
And let me go back there again
To ride on the range with my friends
I fell in love with a young senorita
When I was just barely a man
She stole my heart but I still had to leave her
And go chase that old wild wind
Oh but I was a hero and I was a cowboy
Out on the range I would ride like the wind
I pray that some day, the good Lord, He will take me
And let me go back there again
To ride on the range with my friends
I said I don’t know how I made it this far
My good friends have all passed away
So I took all I had and I bought this cantina
And here’s where I’ll spend my last days
Oh but I was a hero and I was a cowboy
Out on the range I would ride like the wind
But I know that some day, the good Lord, He will take me
And let me go back there again
To ride on the range with my friends
Yippee ki-yi-yay git along little dogies.
It was a fine song, Sam had reflected, and it made him terribly homesick—even after the mood was broken when a passing soldier called out in the dark, “Hey! Did that senorita have big tits?”
Beams’ answer led to scattered laughter among the company soldiers that were still awake, “You bet, partner! B.G.E. stands for Big Goddamned Enchiladas!”
As the laughter died away, and the encampment became as quiet as it could be with thousands of soldiers, Sam had tried to remember the words to the song. Sam may have been a cowboy, but he had no notions of being a hero—he wasn’t Perkin. Sam had been commended for his role in the defense of a little bridge at Mount San Chirico, but to Sam the medals held little value. Fighting was a ticket home, and the war meant little more to Sam than that. Finish this battle and move on to the next one, then the one after that until there were no more battles to fight. Then he could go home to Texas and Margaret. One day, Sam thought, maybe the good Lord will take me, and let me go back there again.”
