Back

Old Timer Tab

by Waylon Jennings


*************** OLD TIMER (THE SONG) ***************

written and performed by Waylon Jennings.


Verse 1:
                
	I grew up in Wyoming
                                 
	In and around Jackson's hole
                   
	In the shadows of the Tetons

	Where summers are hot
                                
	And winters unbearably cold
                 
	But the Spring and the Fall
                                  
	Are always as good as it gets
                 
	For over 70 years now
                                   
	I'd watch the sun rise and set


Verse 2:
                
	I've been a cowboy
                                    
	Working the round-ups in spring
                
	I've lived in the mountains

	Hunted the grizzly
                                   
	Trapping the rivers and streams
            
	Always the loner
                                       
	I've treasured my freedom the most
                   
	And though i never married
                                           
	As a young man i might have come close


Verse 3:
          
	From somewhere back east

	She came to the valley
                
	With a man who did her no good
                
	He was fast with the ladies

	A tin horn gambler
	       
	And a cheat whenever he could
               
	She had no friends or family
                                 
	Most of the time he was gone
            
	He died in a card game
                                    
	And she found herself all alone


Verse 4:
          
	Alone and afraid and left unprotected
                
	'Cause he was all that she had
           
	Maybe i should have

	But i never told her
              
	So she never knew he was bad
            
	But i'll always remember
                                  
	Standing and watching her cry
                  
	There was no one to help her
                                 
	But i was determined to try


Verse 5:
             
	I mended her fences and

	Fixed up her cabin
                                  
	I had everything looking good
            
	I laid by her food

	And wood for the winter
                            
	Helping wherever i could
             
	The more i was around her
                             
	The more i wanted to be
                 
	There was something about her
                                        
	That brought out a good side of me


Verse 6:
           
	I went into town,i brought a new outfit
             
	I got me a haircut and shave
             
	I'd trek through the snow

	For no good reason
                
	Just to go by her cabin each day
                
	I don't know about love
                                        
	But i was quite taken in by it all
                
	Till her brother came in the Spring
                                     
	And he took her back to St. Paul


Verse 7:
                
	I don't go down to Jackson
                                            
	Ain't nothing there but motels and bars
              
	Too damn many tourists

	No place to hide
                                       
	They'll find you wherever you are
                        
	They like to call me old timer
                               
	I am getting older i guess
                
	But i don't like the changes
                                        
	'Cause i've seen it all at its best


Verse 8:
                 
	When my life is over
                                    
	I don't want to be left in town
             
	But up in the mountains

	There is a place
                                          
	I've marked off my own piece of ground
           
	High in the Tetons
                               
	Above and away from it all
                
	From the top of old Grand

	I bet on a clear day - you can see
                            
	All the way to St. Paul

Perret Charles-Amir : perret@diva.univ-mlv.fr