Spanish Johnny

Those other years, the dusty years
 We drove the big hers through
 I tried to forget the miles we rode
 And Spanish Johnny too
 He'd sit beside a water ditch when all this herd was in
 And he'd never harm a child but sing to his mandolin
 The old talk, the old ways, and the dealin' of our game
 But Spanish Johnny never spoke, but sing a song of Spain
 And his talk with men was vicious talk
 When he was drunk on gin
 Ah, but those were golden things he said to his mandolin
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 We had to stand, we tried to judge, we had to stop him then
 For the hand so gentle to a child had killed so many men
 He died a hard death long ago before the road come in
 And the night before he swung he sung to his mandolin
 Well, we carried him out in the mornin' sun
 A man that done no good
 And we lowered him down in the cold clay
 Stuck in a cross of wood
 And a letter we wrote to his kinfolk
 To tell them where he'd been
 And we shipped it out to Mexico, along with his mandolin