Song Lyrics

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   All in the Journey
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...
"This was written the year we toured an incredible number of miles and still manage the long haul to Mexico. Pay your toll or take the free road and utter chaos. Lynne kept saying, 'It's all in the journey'."

Gary

Lead vocal & acoustic guitar:   Gary Fjellgaard

Nylon string guitar:   David Sinclair

Cello:   Finn Manniche

BG Vocal:   Linda Kidder

It’s all in the journey / And it starts from the cradle

We look for the roses / On the side of the road

Every day every moment / We try to remember

That it’s all in the journey / Wherever we may go

Love has no ending / It starts with a whisper

Or hides in the desert / On the side of the road

Every day is a promise / That can never be broken

Cause it’s all in the journey / Wherever we may go

We’ve never seen this road before

We’ve never paid this toll before

We picked a rose / From the desert floor

That was worth the price / And so much more

Every day every moment / We try to remember

That it’s all in the journey / Wherever we may go

It's all in the journey / Wherever we may go

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   All in the Journey
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"Billy Miner road up from the States to the South Thompson region of British Columbia. He spent over half his life in prison. I got to thinking about Billy's crimes in comparison to today's modern leaders of Nations. Hey, Billy wasn't all that bad."

Gary

Lead vocal and mandolin:   Gary Fjellgaard

Bass:   Rene Worst

Drums:   Shawn Soucy

Fiddle:   Cam Wilson

Acoustic guitar:   David Sinclair

BG vocals:   Linda Kidder & David Sinclair

Have you heard about a bandit / By the name of Billy Miner

Slippery as a grey fox / Runnin’ through the sage

Billy had a pistol / Big forty four pistol

He had a hideout / Down in the cottonwood

Back when Billy robbed trains

Billy was a gentleman / He never robbed a poor man

Had a little bit of Robin Hood / Runnin’ through his veins

He rode into Canada / Lookin’ for his liberty

He spent half his life / Behind prison walls

Back when Billy robbed trains

Saddle up you cowboys / Gather up the townfolk

Getting’ up a posse/ Gonna’ run him to the ground

Billy had a fast horse / He made his get away

Back / In the boots and saddle days

Back when Billy robbed trains

You got your modern day outlaw Leaders of Nations

They threaten devastation/ With a bible in their hands

If God blesses anyone / God blesses everyone Billy was a saint / By comparison

And Billy robbed trains

He just robbed trains

So saddle up you cowboys / Gather up the townfolk

Getting up a posse/ Gonna run ‘em to the ground

They better have a fast horse / When they make their get away

Cause back in the / Boots and saddle days

Back when Billy robbed trains

We’d hang ‘em high / From the cottonwood

Back when Billy robbed trains

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   Caragana Wind
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"Reunions in small prairie towns inspire a nostalgic look into the innocent days. Innocent? Could be stretchin' it a bit."

Gary

Not much remains / Of those barefoot days

Just the odd memory / From an innocent age

When I was a skinny kid / Out at the knees

And you were the girl / Of my dreams

You came from that farm / At the end of the road

Baked by the sun / Full of thistles and stones

I still remember / Your freckles and jeans

Back in those / Barefoot days

And it's so good / To see you again

At this small town reunion / Remembering when

Ah sometimes I wish / That we could go back

To those summers / When we were just kids

But we'll never / As long as we live

Go back to those / Barefoot days

Back to the / Innocent age

We never thought / That those summers would end

Back in those / Barefoot days

We often rode double / On the back of my horse

Kicking our heels in his side / We would ride

To the end of the pasture / You holding on tight

With your hair flying / Back in the wind

I was looking for wages / When I left the farm

I heard you got married / To a rancher back home

Do you ever wonder / When you think of those days

How innocent / Young love can be

Writer:   Ian Tamblyn

Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running
Publishers:   Sea Lynx Music / SOCAN

I’ve been a sailor / For far too many years

Nothing but the flotsam / And the tides

But all of that is changing / I’ll set my course today

And dream reach of a way / To the bay of sails

And of course / You know the place

Hard by Benachee Bay / Where the blue whales

And the snowy petrals play

Come on lay your burdens down / Let the capstan spin

And I will meet you / Down at the Bay of Sails

I will cross the bridge of sighs / Skirt the dangerous slopes

I hear the birch stand tall / In the Bay of Sails

I will cross the blue crevasse / Dive the deep dark green

And I will meet you / Down in the Bay of Sails

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

Have you heard about a bandit / By the name of Billy Miner

Slippery as a grey fox / Runnin’ through the sage

Billy had a pistol / Big forty four pistol

He had a hideout / Down in the cottonwood

Back when Billy robbed trains

Billy was a gentleman / He never robbed a poor man

Had a little bit of Robin Hood / Runnin’ through his veins

He rode into Canada / Lookin’ for liberty

He spent half his life / Behind prison walls

Back when Billy robbed trains

Gather up the cowboys / Gather up the townfolk

Gettin’ up a posse/ Gonna run him to the ground

Billy had a fast horse / He made his get away

Back / In the boots and saddle days

Back when Billy robbed trains

You got yer modern day outlaw Leaders of Nations

They threaten devastation/ With a bible in their hands

If God blesses anyone / God blesses everyone Billy was a saint / By comparison

Oh, and Billy robbed trains

He just robbed trains

So gather up the cowboys / Gather up the townfolk

Getting up a posse/ Gonna run ‘em to the ground

They better have a fast horse / When they make their get away

Cause back in the / Boots and saddle days

Back when Billy robbed trains

We’d hang ‘em high / From the cottonwood

Back when Billy robbed trains

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Albums:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic / Grande Olde Ride
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

In her upstairs room / She sits beside the window

Starin' till she / Just can't see no more

Has it been a year / Or has it been forever

Since that cowboy left / To fight that crazy war

So she wraps herself inside / His buckskin jacket

You know the one that smells of / horse and honest sweat

He was after all / Just a workin’ cowboy

She loved that boy / With everything she had

Freedom was one thing / They always counted on

Worth fighting for / That's what they believed

When a poster said / We need more able bodies

He just looked at her and said / They must mean me

He said/One last night / Before I have to leave you

If I have to go and fight / I'll fight to win

He left the upstairs room / While she lay sleeping

With his buckskin coat / Against her naked skin

He wasn't much / For sentimental letters

But he wrote to her / As faithful as can be

He said a cowboy / Who never took to water

Ain't it funny how / I ended up at sea

For three long months / That crazy war's been over

She wonders if she'll spend / Her life alone

Then she heard familiar footsteps / In the hallway

By some miracle / Her cowboy made it home

So they wrap themselves inside / His buckskin jacket

You know the one that smells of / Horse and honest sweat

He was after all / Just a workin’ cowboy

He loved that girl / With everything he had

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN
Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

The buffalo are back boys / the buffalo are back

They're a natural for this range boys / hey that's a basic fact

They once were small in number / Their future was so black

I'm glad to say / The buffalo are back

Now man was part and parcel / Of some large historic goof

We almost lost the bison / Sixty million on the hoof

But there were men with vision boys / A lucky thing was that

And I'm proud to say / The buffalo are back

We'll bow to mother nature boys / We will not strip her bare

We'll tend the mighty buffalo / With tender loving care

All our son's and daughters / Will be proud of what we've done

When they see those bison / Grazin’ in the sun

Call ‘em buffalo or bison boys / What difference does it make

To build that mighty herd again / We'll give more than we take

And one thing is for certain boys / and that will never change

The buffalo are back on the range

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Album:   Caragena Wind
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"The political position of most folks on some of the smaller west coast islands are carefully examined in this song. Should have LEFT this one off the CD."

Gary

We live on these rocks / Where the ferry boat docks

Still wearin’ black gumboots and slickers

We brag and we boast / Of this life on the coast

But sometimes we argue and bicker

Just as long as we live by the sea

Just as long as my darlin' loves me

For whatever it's worth / We're apart of the earth

And that's not such a bad place to be

Just as long as we live by the sea

Down at the Islanders Hall / A meeting was called

They said a bridge would improve our condition

When it came to a vote / Everybody said no

We're taking the lotus position

We gather the wood / That will fit in the stove

Given up by the wind and the breakers

We barter and trade / We lay in the shade

And manjana means sooner or later

Some say it's a fact / We're a little laid back

Some say not over ambitious

It's not that we shirk / Ah but why should we work

When we can munch on granola and fishes

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Albums:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic / Caragana Wind
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"The house still stands like a ghost framed by the prairie sky, roof caving in, windows broken, caragana's growing wild in the wind."

Gary

They said goodbye / To the old home place

Sarah dabbed a tear / With a wisp of lace

She said John I hate to leave / This caragana wind

Ah now Sarah / Go ahead and cry

I know fifty years / Is a long long time

Then just up and leave this farm / To the caragana wind

Hey Sarah / There's that horse drawn rake

One last look / For old times sake

There's that wagon box / That busted sleigh

Everything turns / Barn board grey

And you and me Sarah / We got that way

In the caragana wind / The caragana wind

Everything turns grey / In the caragana wind

It takes an eight wheel tractor / To make a go

And five sections / Is just a one man show

We can't fight the bank / And the caragana wind

So there's not much sense / In hangin’ on

When everybody's / Moved to town

We'd just be here alone / In the caragana wind

You know those matching clydes / Were quite a team

Never let you down / Like some damn machine

There's nothing left / But dry old bones

Buried beneath / That pile of stones

And you and me Sarah / We're getting’ old

In the caragana wind / The caragana wind

You and me Sarah / Gettin' old

In the caragana wind / The caragana wind

Everything turns / Barn board grey

You and me Sarah / We got that way

Everything turns grey / In the caragana wind

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Album:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

He's a fisherman a farmer

He's a roughneck he's a logger

If his hands get a little dirty that's alright

Well his money don't come easy

But he seems to spend it freely

As he buys a round for the boys on Saturday night

He's a trucker he's a cowboy

He's a worker on the railway

He lives in a camp and they work him overtime

If there's a poker game in progress

He will gather in the bunkhouse

Swapin’ yarns and dealin’ cards till breakfast time

Don't change the color of your collar

Nothin’ wrong with a dirty shade of blue

Don't change the color of your collar

We'd be proud to be just a little bit more like you

There's an airtight heater glowin’

Like a red eye in the corner

With chainsaw parts and dirty socks on the floor

Cursin’ off those benders

In a tangle of suspenders

And a cold water wash in a basin by the door

Well it's cold out there this mornin’

Better get those diesels runnin’

Cause the crummy's leavin’ for the bush if you wanna ride

Four more months till break-up

Knowin’ they gotta keep-up

The one thing they got plenty of is pride

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

In the hills beyond the prairie

Just below the timberline

On our trusty faithful ponies

We'll go riding back in time

We are sailors of the saddle

Leather faced and hard as steel

And we'll ride into the sunset

We will know how freedom feels

I can see your still a dreamer

Sometimes stumble in the dark

Though your lives be uneventful

There's a cowboy in your heart

We'll be rough we'll be ready

Like some band of desperate men

Were living proof and living color

That the wild bunch rides again

We will set those spurs a jinglin’

We'll walk the line we'll toe the mark

Ridin high ridin’ easy

With a cowboy in your heart

I love the taste of freedom

The wind the earth and sky

I will roam and I will wander

And be a cowboy till I die

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

He was leather and dust

He was bent and busted

Just a worn out broken down cowboy

He was rodeo

That was years ago

Now the rodeo is over

She was young and soft

Every hat came off

In respect for all that beauty

She was a dance hall prize

In every young man's eyes

And in the heart of that old cowboy

I wanna hold you close to me he said

I wanna feel my arms around you

And if you don't mind my askin’ you

Would you dance with this old cowboy

That cowboy fell in love

Head over heels in love

With that vision of the prairie

Would you dance with me

He so bravely asked her

His last dance just a memory

And then she smiled a smile

Like to melt his heart

She said you almost had me worried

I've been waitin’ all night

I thought you'd never ask me

I'm so glad you found the courage

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

Come all you weekend cowboys

We got one more day of ridin’

We got one more night / Out here on the trail

Saddle sores and weary

Throats dry and dusty

We got one more chance / To let go of the reins

And we'll be dancin’ in the grass / Till after midnight

To a pick up band/Who knows every two step

We'll never get enough / Raisin hell'n raisin dust

Every heart breakin’ trail / Is in the past

To a weekend cowboy / Dancin’ in the grass

Get a taste of cowboy life

Out here on this cattle drive

We can wave those worries / All goodbye

Leather tough wild and free

Ain't no place we'd rather be

Than here beneath / That big old western sky

The moon is full of romance

Shining on the sagebrush

Like a painting from a / Charlie Russel scene

We've never seen the ladies

Looking quite so pretty

A fantasy / in every cowboy's dream

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

There's a shack along the road

The old cowboy calls it home

There’s not much to do but watch the trucks roll by

So he sits and drinks his tea

Rocking to some memory

Just a drifting cowboy taking one last ride

His dreams are like the ghost

Of the only life he knows

His silver spurs jingle and shine

Once he was young and hell on wheels

Now can you picture how he feels

Still riding broncos somewhere back in time

Those prairie winds still blow

Like they did so long ago

Ah but the tumbleweeds don't roll quite the same

They old line riders ask

When will the buffalo come back

And will the drifting cowboys ever drift again

He rides into the town

As the sun is going down

He ties his trusty pony to the rail

Some trail boss and his crew

They stand him one or two

But tonight we'll find him out there on the trail

Drifting cowboy

Taking one last ride

Just a speck out on the prairie

And a little spark of glory in my eyes

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard, Whiz Bryant & Socan

Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

If we could see / Through the eyes / of a cowboy

We could ride the wild prairie / With the Blackfoot and Cree

We could ride the high valleys / Where the grizzly roam free

We could cross the Red River

Herd cattle / Up the old Chisholm Trail

If we could see / Through the eyes / of a cowboy

If we could look/Through the eyes /of a cowboy

We could ride through the badlands / With the Youngers and James

We could run through the sagebrush / With the outlaw Mcleans

We could / Taste of their freedom

And nothing tastes / Better than that

If we could look / Through the eyes of a cowboy

Ridin in to the sunset / With Roy and Gene taggin’ along

With our trusty companions / Singing the old cowboy songs

If we could see / Through the eyes / of a cowboy

We could be the dark stranger / Who rides into town

The fearless old lawman / Starin’ him down

We might be the good guy / The cowboy saving the girl

If we could see / Through the eyes / Of a cowboy

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Albums:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic / All in the Journey
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...
"I always wanted an acoustic version of  this song and the environmental message is more relevant today than ever. Folks who make a living from the earth, I’m sure understand this."

Gary

Lead vocal & acoustic guitar:   Gary Fjellgaard

Mandolin:   David Sinclair

Bass:   Rene Worst

BG Vocals:   Linda Kidder & David Sinclair

There’s a hawk in the sky with a lean hungry eye

A hunter of the old brown hills

Somewhere in the west the sun is gonna set

A moment just before he makes his kill

A cowboy’s mendin' fence and the heat waves rise

There’s a wind with a breath like a fire

He kicks at the dust and wipes his brow

The falcon came to rest upon the wire

He sat there looking at the cowboy

The cowboy looked right back at him

I guess they must have reached some understanding

If we share this range we might as well be friends

We are the keepers of the earth down here in the dirt

With every living thing at our mercy

For a moment in the wind you and I my friend

Are given all this power and this glory

We are the keepers of the earth, keeping her for better or for worse

Just like the falcon and the cowboy

He slaps his hat on a worn out chap

Had a drink from a warm canteen

And as if to say well I guess that’s that

The falcon just up and flew away

He circled once and looked down on the cowboy

The cowboy stared right back at him

I guess they reached some final understanding

If we share this range we might as well be friends

So long old buddy till we meet again

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

Tryin’ to keep up / I'll catch you if I can

Might even pass you / on the corner

That old coast road / Is a well traveled road

Who knows where we will be / Come tomorrow

We've been down that road / A thousand times or more

Down that road / Just for the love of it

We've been down that road / A thousand times or more

Down that road / Just for the love of it

There's a cold north wind / On these wild Pacific shores

We're like a boat set adrift / With no captain

But there's stars in our eyes / See how they shine

Like a light on that / Long black horizon

We have sailed that ship / A thousand times before

Sailed that ship / Just for the love of it

We have sailed that ship / A thousand times before

Sailed on that ship / Just for the love of it

The home fires burn / In the wind and the rain

She watches for those lights / In the driveway

She gets lonely at times / In that cabin by the sea

She don't like that life / Out on the highway

We've been down that road / A thousand times or more

Down that road / Just for the love of it

We've been down that road / A thousand times or more

Down that road / Just for the love of it

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

We ride on untamed horses / We sail on dangerous waters

We stumble and we scramble / To climb some distant hill

High above the canyons / Just to watch the sundown

Drinking every moment / Till we drink our fill

It's a grand old ride/ Such a grand old ride

Drinking every moment / Till we drink our fill

It's a grand old ride / Such a grand old ride

You still have that magic / Your still quite the beauty

I'm amazed after all this time / You still love me

How deep is the river / Guess we'll take our chances

A leap of faith we'll jump in / And drift to the sea

It's a grand old ride / Such a grand old ride

A leap of faith we'll jump right in / Drift to the sea

It's a grand old ride / It's a grand old ride

And if we get lost / Somewhere along the trail

We'll drop the reins / Hold on tight

And love will show the way

It's a grand old ride / Such a grand old ride

Drinking every moment / Till we drink our fill

It's a grand old ride / Such a grand old ride

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   All in the Journey
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"Lynne and I were in the ghost town of Barkerville BC long before any of the restoration, when it was a true ghost town. Looking at all the artifacts hanging on the walls we realized we had used most of them in our many years together. This became our fiftieth anniversary song."

Gary

Lead vocal and acoustic guitar:   Gary Fjellgaard

Violin:   Cam Wilson

Cello:   Finn Manniche

Have we been here before

Were we the ones who found the gold / In Williams Creek

Did we drive that team of mules / Down that dusty street

Was that my spurs / Hanging on the door

Am I the ghost / Who would dance with you once more

Have we been here before

Have we been here before

Was it you and I who rode the stage / To Anaheim

Did we join up with the drovers / On a cattle drive

Is that the dress of calico / You once wore

Are you the ghost / Who would dance with me once more

Have we been here before

This place / Holds so many memories

Artifacts and history

We must have used / Some of these familiar things

Yesterday

We danced / To a fiddle in the old saloon

Remember how / We loved that tune

The music / Played for half a century

And still it plays / On

Have we been here before

Following the footsteps of / The pioneers

Their tracks / Slowly vanishing / Thru the years

They had dreams / That helped them to survive

We have this love / Still very much alive

Is that my spurs / Hanging on the door

Is that the dress of calico / You once wore

Are we the ghosts / Dancing here once more

Have we been here before

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

Leavin’ tracks in the dust / On the heart break trail

My collar up / Ridin all alone

The night winds seem to cry / On the heart break trail

But this old cowboys / comin’ home

There was a big old yellow moon / On the heart break trail

I remember the reflection / In her eyes

The tears fell like rain / On the heart break trail

The night this old cowboy / Said goodbye

We could be the heroes

In a movie of the week

About a cowboy / and his foolish pride

And a ridin’ in the sunset / happy ending

My pony seems so eager / He holds his head up high

The moon goes down / Another day begins

Just a few more miles to water / Two arms to hold me tight

I'll never ride that heart break trail again

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

Love is lost / love is found

On unmarked trails / on rocky ground

We simply try / to carry on

To the hidden valley

And over the mountains

Along some winding river

We'll ride into the sunset side by side

And I could not love you

Anymore than forever

We'll find that hidden valley by and by

You must have known / I loved you so

Forty some odd / years ago

Still were searching / high and low

For the hidden valley

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic
Publisher:   Helping Hand Music

When I was young I used to trade

My comic books and home made guns

And little cowboys on the run

Were killers just like me

We'd hang those dirty outlaws high

With rawhide ropes of binder twine

Red Ryder was a friend of mine

A hero just for me

I remember when we stole a can

Of tobacco from the hired hand

Seein' as how we were workin' men

We'd smoke till we were green

We could spit and we could fight

And we believed each others lies

Ridin' fast and ridin' high

For all the world to see

Whatever happened to my heroes

They don't make em like they did in forty four

But they were there when I needed them

I wish they'd all come back again

I don't have no heroes anymore

They travel thru my memory

Those riders and their legacy

I know they all remembered me

They called me by my name

Then like a ghost from yesterday

My heroes thunder on their way

Back into a lonely grave

For all eternity

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard & Darrel Delaronde

Album:   All in the Journey
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / Darrel Delaronde

A few words about this song ...

"Co-written with Darrel Delaronde who came to me with this wonderful melody, and the idea that heaven could not be truly paradise without horses. As a lover of the western lifestyle it made perfect sense to me."

Gary

Lead vocal and acoustic guitar:   Gary Fjellgaard

Nylon string and electric guitar:   David Sinclair

BG vocals: Linda Kidder & David Sinclair

Tales of the west / Some of them true

Old heroes at rest / Do the horses rest too

A cowboy’s companion / On high lonesome trails

Grazin’ / Up there in the sky

Or saddled / and ready to ride

Chorus:

I hope there are horses / In heaven

That’s the one thing / I’d like to know

I don’t care if I’m walking / On streets paved with gold

I hope there are horses / In heaven

A buckskin I owned / Half broke and half wild

When I put him down / I kept the hurtin’ inside

A cowboy’s companion / On high lonesome trails

He could run / Swift as the wind

I’d love to ride / That buckskin again

Chorus

When my time is at hand / When the last roundup’s done

Will I question his plan / If I stand at His Throne

If heaven has a pony / To carry me home

To that range / In the sweet bye and bye

Then Lord / I’m ready to ride

Chorus

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   All in the Journey
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...
"This song is dedicated to the First Nations victims and survivors of the cultural genocide which occurred in Canada for over a century. No apology can heal the wounds caused by the far reaching effects of the residential school system. I can only add my voice as a member of the generation who allowed this abuse to take place. This song is available as a free download on the home page of this website."

Gary

Lead vocal and acoustic guitar:   Gary Fjellgaard

Drums:   Elliot Polsky

Bass:   Brian Newcombe

Electric guitar:   David Sinclair

Violin:   Cam Wilson

BG vocal:   Linda Kidder

I have this guilt / I have this shame

I have a conscience / So I have to take the blame

I stood back / I watched it all

I even helped imprison you / Behind those walls

No excuse / Is good enough

We never let you speak / Unless you mimicked us

I can’t run / I can’t hide

Why I can’t even / Look you in the eye

No hollow prayer / No silent shout

No more empty words / Spilling from my mouth

You stripped away / My thin disguise

Now all that I can do is say / I’m sorry

I apologize

I thought that God / Was on my side

And with my righteousness / I’d tame the savage child

I would not have them / Running free

If they assimilate / They could be like me

How many can / The wagons hold

Another thousand children / I suppose

It must have seemed / Like judgement day

The anguish / As the wagons rolled away

I can’t begin / To know your pain

You can’t forgive / As long as memory remains

Through it all / You still survive

And all that I can do is say / I’m sorry

Choking on the words that say / I’m sorry

I apologize

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   Caragana Wind
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

A few words about this song ...

"Admire the workin' cowboy, his lifestyle and that undaunted spirit we all wish we had. Who will take care of those wild, lonely places if the cowboy goes away."

Gary

If the cowboy goes away

Who will ride the lonely places

Who will nurse the tortured ranges

Who will gather in the stray

If the cowboy disappears

Who will protect the sweet grass prairie

And the high wild sanctuary

If the cowboy goes away

There are still some old vaqueros / Down in Mexico

With tales of California / So long ago

The open range is gone / Like the buffalo

They just sit and watch the sunset / On those desert hills

That there are still vaqueros left boys / It's a miracle

If the cowboy goes away

Who will be out there ridin’ fences

Who will still have common senses

If the cowboy goes away

They say the cowboy will be one brief page / Of history

Why anyone would say that / Is a mystery

When heroes ride away / There's a legacy

But if somewhere on the borderline / That story ends

And all that we can say boys / Is remember when

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   All in the Journey
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"Lynne has asked many times over the years, 'When are you going to quit the business?' After a particular rough twenty six thousand kilometer journey that question kept coming up more often but with more of a tone of desperation. That beach in Mexico is starting to look better all the time."

Gary

Lead vocal and acoustic guitar:   Gary Fjellgaard

Drums:   Shawn Soucy

Bass:   Rene Worst

Electric guitar, dobro, banjo, jaw harp, and tuba sample:   David Sinclair

My wife said I should retire / I think you’ve lost your fire

And you’ll never write the perfect country song

What’s that you say my dear / Try the other ear

I’ll know when it’s time to move along

You know I get these muscle cramps / Pickin’ up my amp

I need help just to get up on the stage

My eyes are getting dim / I gotta feel to plug it in

And the only thing I’m feelin’ is my age

Chorus

It’s knowin’ when to quit the business

Head on down to old Mexico

It's cold out on the prairies / When you tour in January

With the wind chill it’s forty nine below

It’s knowin’ when to quit the business

Time to give it up and let it go

This musical direction / Needs a southerly connection

It's knowin’ when to quit and go to Mexico

I still got some cowboy pride / In this dried up wrinkled hide

I feel like twenty one / In my brain

I stand up here so proud / But out there in the crowd

Is a look of mild discomfort and disdain

If we pair things to the bone / Sell everything we own

We’ll still be broke and livin' in the red

Oh, did I fail to mention / We get the old age pension

We can live on that but only if we’re dead

Chorus (last half)

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   Caragana Wind
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

A few words about this song ...

"Crossing the Baja border for the first time was a grand experience for a songwriter. I became Juan,the lonely desperado riding a wild eyed stallion through the hills of Mexico searching for her secrets."

Gary

There's been a change in me my friends / Ever since I crossed the border

Another gringo has become / A lonely desperado

I ride the hills of Mexico / Searching for her secrets

I am Juan the lonely desperado / Out among the cactus

Hey hombre would you like to buy / A poncho and sombrero

Five hundred pesos later / I am mucho desperado

From the back of a wild eyed stallion / Out there in the plaza

I gallup away in a cloud of dust / Ah just like Poncho Villa

With silver spurs and silver bits / And long tapederos

I cross the high Sonorans / As a lonely desperado

A village had been taken by / Bandidos from Diablo

So I ride in like Clint Eastwood / With my blazing pistoleros

They gathered round my stirrup friends / And cheered this cabellero

The senoritas cried as one voice / Juan you are my hero

I must gallop on my way amigos / North across the border

But I'll come back to Mexico / As a lonely desperado

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   Caragana Wind
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"Too much Baja sun, a gray haired gringo takes an evening stroll on the waterfront, downtown La Paz. Mmmm, could be trouble. Stupid gringo."

Gary

I have a tale that you should know

It happened down in Mexico

I get too much of the Baja sun

So I take a stroll on the Malecon

An evening stroll on the Malecon

I love the shrimp I love the prawn

I love the ladies on the Malecon

I see that girl in a red sarong

She strutting on the Malecon

Strutting her stuff on the Malecon

oh oh the Malecon / She strut her stuff on the Malecon

She say don't you like that disco song

Come dance with me on the Malecon

That saucy lady she turn me on

I fall in love on the Malecon

So much in love on the Malecon

I say I cannot speak in the Spanish tongue

She says it don't matter on the Malecon

I'll be yours until the dawn

You lucky gringo on the Malecon

You one lucky gringo on the Malecon

Oh oh the Malecon / You one lucky gringo on the Malecon

She say don't you worry ‘bout my boyfriend Juan

He's a little jealous but a gentleman

He stay at home and clean his gun

I slip away to the Malecon

I flit away to the Malecon

He kisses taste like honeycomb

Slow dancing on the Malecon

When suddenly I'm all alone

There's a bit of tension on the Malecon

Some apprehension on the Malecon

Oh oh the Malecon

I see his ugly face as the midnight come

I had too much tequila, too much rum

He say I shoot you dead you gringo scum

I leave you bleeding on the Malecon

Bleeding and dying on the Malecon

Oh oh the Malecon / I leave you dying on the Malecon

I didn't know how fast I could run

From a forty four in the hand of Juan

From that saucy lady in a red sarong

She wave goodbye from the Malecon

She blow me kisses from the Malecon

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   All in the Journey
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"It's a challenge sometimes for a songwriter to put difficult words into a song. Bougainvillea and eucalyptus came to mind sitting in a courtyard in Mexico. Try and spell that.

Gary

Lead vocal and mandolin:   Gary Fjellgaard

Drums:   Shawn Soucy

Bass:   Rene Worst

Nylon string guitar and mandolin:   David Sinclair

BG vocals:   Linda Kidder & David Sinclair

Bougainvillea trails / from the courtyard walls

In the eucalyptus shade / I can hide from the Mexican sun

I sit here in the plaza / I drink my first tequila

And I dream about the night / that Spanish dancer / danced for me

The Mexican heat / was all around her

Mexican heat / like flashing silver

If I never come this way again / I’ll remember

The Spanish dancer / and the Mexican heat

Mariachi magic / and a million stars

I catch a glimpse of her / brown skin limbs / in the moonlight

Her dresses swirled around her / our eyes met for a moment

Was there anything / more beautiful in Mexico

Out there in the plaza / in a voice so soft and low

She said, "No Senior, I belong to Mexico"

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   All in the Journey
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

A few words about this song ...

"The song is a lie, my sweetheart and I have never been riding in the Mexican moonlight unless you count the reins of a truck pulling a fifth wheel. We shouldn't be on those Baja roads after dark anyway."

Gary

I love freedom / The sweet taste of freedom

Slow movin’ freight trains / Small prairie towns

I love silence / Dreams that come true

Come and ride with me darlin

Under a Mexican Moon

We will ride, ride, ride / Lost in some old cowboy tune

Ride, ride, ride / Under a Mexican Moon

I love horses / Prancin’ and dancin’

High mountain skylines / Soft summer rain

I love heroes / Dreams that come true

Come and ride with me darlin

Under a Mexican Moon

The Streets of Laredo / The Strawberry Roan

The Red River Valley / Written in stone

South of the Border / Rollin along

Deep in our hearts / The old cowboy songs

I love faces / Grizzled old cowboys

Handshakes that matter / The desert in bloom

I love springtime / Dreams that come true

Come and ride with me darlin

Under a Mexican Moon

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard & Stuart Montgomery

Album:   All in the Journey

Publishers:   Slim Creek Music, Stuart Montgomery-Collins Music BMI, & Kitchen Table Music

We’ve been down / So many trails

Why we could tell / A thousand tales

Throwed to the ground / And got back up again

We dusted off / Those faded dreams

Mended them / Like old blue jeans

Then tipped our hats / And slowly rode away

There’s always one more pony to ride

One more blazing sunset

On a pair of matching chestnuts / On one more glory trail

There’s a fire in their eyes

From some forgotten battle

Better stick right to the saddle

Hold on tight / Don’t let go

There’s always one more rodeo / And one more bronc we have never tried

There’ll always be / One more pony ride

Tangled ropes / Calloused hands

Scars that burn / Just like a brand

In both our hearts / In both our memories

Rusty spurs / worn out chaps

There ain’t much use / In looking back

When we’re hard upon / The trail of destiny

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   Caragana Wind

Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"Horse and toboggan to school. Leave him munchin' slough grass in the livery stable. What a magical place. They even had town council meetings in an empty stall where they made major decisions, l guess."

Gary

He came from the prairies / A friend of the family

We sipped on Saskatchewan moonshine

In the cool of the kitchen / We get to reminiscing

About back when we had us some good times

He said there's been some changes / Not all for the better

He put one more pint on the table

I said just in passin’ / Whatever happened

To Pop Campbell's Livery Stable

She was bigger than most / A community host

The prairies last cultural vision

The town council hall / Was a straw covered stall

Where the mayor made his major decisions

She was cool in the summer / Warm in the winter

Sway backed and bent down the middle

But the horses got fed / For two bits a head

At Pop Campbell's Livery Stable

Now the Anderson clan / Were of Scottish descent

With a mixture of Swede and Norwegian

On a Saturday night / They would look for a fight

And end up in a sorry condition

Don't fight in the barn boys / Pop'd give them a warning

Go home to your chores if your able

Or sleep in the loft / Where the slough grass is soft

At Pop Campbell's Livery Stable

Well they burned the place down / Then leveled the ground

To make way for the antique museum

Old buggies and sleighs / You can't sit in today

But if you stand behind the fence you can see ‘em

Don't panic old boy / If we run out of oil

Well I've managed to keep up the farm

And as a matter of course / We'll go back to the horse

And rebuild Old Pop Campbell's Barn

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard* / SOCAN

Album:   Caragana Wind

Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

*Lyric inspiration from the poem "Courage" by Mike Puhallo

A few words about this song ...

"A poem by cowboy poet Mike Pullhalo struck a chord with me as the fires were raging through the North Thompson the summer of 2003. 'Half moon hangs blood red' or 'Standing in the ashes saying, we can build again' I couldn't leave that alone."

Gary

Flames / Dancing on the hills

Half moon hangs / Blood red

The devil has been fed

Dry / It's never been so dry

Night / Never ends

Damn that shifting wind

We have seen raw courage / Seen it in the eyes

Of all the burnt out families / Trying to survive

In the blackened weary faces / of those heroes on the line

In the love between a woman / And a man

Standing in the ashes saying / We can build again

And that's courage / Raw courage

Standing in the ashes saying / We can build again

Fly / Water bombers fly

Thunder / In the dawn

The battle rages on

Smoke / The valley's filled with smoke

Will we ever / See the sun

Not till the battles won

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Albums:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic / Grande Olde Ride

Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

I rode up from the valley

High above the fields and fences

Just to watch the storm clouds gather

See the lightning how it dances

On those wild and windy ranges

Through the ghost of unshod horses

My faith and my pony carry me

I hold the reins of glory

In my hands

In my hands

I hold the reins of glory

In my hands

I hear the cold white water

Laughing thru the canyon

Hear the whisper of the evergreen

Could it be the master callin’

I sing the songs of freedom

To the rhythm of the saddle

My faith and my pony carry me

I hold the reins of glory In my hands

I will ride forever / Through the peace that comes from silence

The faintest trail / Is all I ever need

I just follow in the footsteps / Of the one who comes before

He has touched / Everything I see

Writers:   Mort Dixon & Harry Woods

Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running
Publishers:   Odle Clover Leaf Music ASCAP, Shapiro Bernstein & Co. Inc.

You keep goin’ your way / I’ll keep goin’ my way

River stay away from my door

I just got a cabin / You don’t need my cabin

River stay away from my door

Don’t come up any higher / I’m so all alone

Leave my house and my fire / That’s all that I own

I ain’t breakin’ your heart / Don’t go breakin’ my heart

River stay away from my door

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   All in the Journey

Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"It was a crushing experience when we lost our beloved little dog Jake. This song is a tribute to our little guy and, I suppose, my way of dealing with the loss."

Gary

Lead vocal and acoustic guitar:   Gary Fjellgaard

Violin:   Cam Wilson

Cello:   Finn Manniche

Electric guitar:   David Sinclair

BG vocal:   Linda Kidder

Run little guy / You’re a good little guy

Down by the ocean / Running on the sandstone

Chasing the geese / Till they swim out of reach

What would you have done / If you had ever caught them

Run little guy / You’re a good little guy

I would throw you a treat / You never learned to catch it

Chasing a stick / Was your favourite trick

You’d sit there and grin / And I would have to fetch it

Chorus

Following our scent / To a far horizon

Suddenly we both / Disappeared

Stay on the trail / Faithful companion

Someday we’ll both / Reappear

Run little guy / You’re a good little guy

Or sit on the back porch / Barking at the silence

Out in the yard / Like a soldier on guard

Do not be afraid / We’ll be there in a moment

Chorus

Run little guy / You’re a good little guy

How we rejoice / In your glorious freedom

Run little friend / With your nose to the wind

If we didn’t have a heart / It could never be broken

Writers:   Troy Seals & Edward Setser

Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running

Publisher:   WB Music Group ASCAP

He looked down into her brown eyes

He said / Say a prayer for me

She threw her arms around him

Said / God will set us free

He could hear the riders comin’

He said / This is my last fight

If they take me back to Texas

They won’t take me back alive

There were seven Spanish Angels / At the alter of the sun

They were prayin’ for the lovers / In the valley of the gun

When the battle stopped and the smoke cleared

There was thunder from the throne

And seven Spanish Angels / Took another Angel home

She reached down and picked the gun up

That lay smoking in his hand

She said / Father please forgive me

I can’t make it without my man

She knew the gun was empty

She knew she couldn’t win

Her final prayer was answered

When the rifles fired again

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   All in the Journey

Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...

"This song deals in a lighthearted way with ranchers who have to sell off small parcels of land to get some much needed cash. I say buy your ten acres, build your house but don't fence it. Let the rancher continue to use the graze. Everybody wins."

Gary

Lead vocal and acoustic guitar:   Gary Fjellgaard

Drums:   Shawn Soucy

Bass:   Rene Worst

Nylon and electric guitars:   David Sinclair

If I was a cowboy

Would you ride up here beside me

Would you settle down beneath the western sun

Would you be the one

I never was much good with cattle

But I got this horse and saddle

So let’s saddle up and ride out in the hills

What a thrill

I can’t believe / That we’re still playin’ cowboy

In this world of swift and sudden change

It’s good to know / That love can be forever

We can still play cowboy

If we can share the range

So we got ourselves ten acres

Make a livin’ shuffling papers

I cut that grass with a John Deer ride ‘em mower

What a chore

We should open up this pasture

To some down, hard workin’ rancher

I’ve heard it said that he’s seen better days

He could use the graze

I can’t believe / We’re still out playin’ cowboy

In this world of swift and sudden change

It’s good to know / That love can be forever

And we can still play cowboy

If we can share the range

Hats off to the cowboy / Who does the most for the common good

Is it the one who shuffles papers / Or the one who raises food

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   Grande Olde Ride

Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

In the year of two thousand

With forty four wagons

One twenty on horseback

We crossed history’s rivers and streams

Just for a moment

We tasted the romance

Of the settler and the cowboy

Who followed a dream

High in the saddle / with my new companions

Grass to the stirrup / out where the buffalo roam

They graze behind fences / as we rumble and clatter

The song of the wagons / on old buffalo bones

Roll wagons roll / blow west wind blow

Sweet sweet the song of the wagons / roll wagons roll

Slow movin’ bison / A Sunday mornin’ horizon

We gather to worship / on the hill with the valley below

When I need inspiration / When the wagon treks over

I'll hitch up these memories / to the wagons and go

Writer:   John Prine

Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running

Publishers:   Big Ears Music Inc. ASCAP, Bruised Oranges 

You come home late / and you / come home early

You come home big / or / When your feeling small

You come home straight / You come home curly

Sometimes you don’t / Come home at all

What in the world Has come over you

What in heavens name / Have you done

You’ve broken the speed of the / Sound of loneliness

Your out there runnin’ / Just to be on the run

I got a heart that burns / With a fever

I got a worried and / A jealous mind

How can a love that’d last forever

Get left so far behind

It’s a mighty mean and / Dreadful sorrow

That’s crossed that evil line / Today

How can you ask about / Tomorrow

When we ain’t got / One word to say

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN

Album:   Grande Olde Ride

Publishers:   Still Creek Music / SOCAN

When the winter storms are over

When the spring comes to the mountains

When the new born young and frisky

Chases through some early dawn

When the sky could not be bluer

When the western wind blows warmer

When the hope is in a young girls’ heart

The winter turns to spring

When the wild geese high above me

Are heading north beyond the border

With a cry so wild and lonely

Like to carry me away

When the cold and tumbling waters

Crashes through some mountain canyon

When the hope is in a young man's eyes

The winter turns to spring

When the grey and seasoned cowboys

Drive the cattle to the alpine

To that high and windy summer range

Where God chose to be

And when the evening shadows wander

Through the field down by the river

I will lay within my true love’s arms

When the winter turns to spring

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   Caragana Wind

Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...
"Round a bend through the Rockies I can still see that steel horse smokin'. Looking back, the prairies disappeared."

 Gary

I was one more prairie son / Back in nineteen fifty some

That wind was cold where I come from / I shivered in the station

Leavin’ on that west bound train / I didn't even know your name

I know you miss that west coast rain / I still miss the prairies

You came up from that southern town / To all those winters that've come and gone

I quit most jobs I ever found / Almost drove you crazy

Rocky mountain mystery / Stretching as far as I could see

Why you still belong to me / I sometimes have to wonder

Trains like a steel horse lullaby / Carry me across the great divide

And dream / Dreams that never die

Some get lost in the rhythm of / A steel horse lullaby

Ride away

Saddle up that rocky mountain highway

It's a sweet song / So dream on

A steel horse lullaby

Sometimes trains they don't come back / That's why it's called a one way track

You know a cowboy singer or a lumber jack / Can somehow make a livin’

There's a train comin’ around the bend / Driven by that prairie wind

That's just me fallin’ in love again / Meet me in the station

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard

Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running

Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

Rollin along / Through the dust and the gravel

Spinning our wheels / Every road we travel

If we can still bring a tear / With the songs that we’re strumin’

Bring a laugh or a smile / It’s worth every mile

Cause we’re still in the runnin’

Another twist in the trail / What does it matter

We’re not runnin’ for gold / That’s not what we’re after

Just to be in the dance / Sharing these moments

Every high every low / It’s all in the show

Cause we’re still in the runnin’

Saying goodbye / Drawing the curtains

House lights turned on / Everyone’s leavin’

Ah but we had us a time / Kinda wish we were stayin’

But more than one night / Just wouldn’t seem right

Cause we’re still in the runnin’

Writer:   Unknown
Album:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic

As I walked out in the streets of Laredo

As I walked out in Laredo one day

I spied a poor cowboy wrapped up in white linen

All wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay

"I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy"

These words he did say as I proudly stepped by

"Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story

I'm shot in the breast and I know I must die

“Twas once in the saddle I used to go ridin'

Once in the saddle I used to go gay

First lead to drinkin', and then to card-playing

I'm shot in the breast and I'm dying today

"Let six jolly cowboys come carry my coffin

Let six pretty gals come to carry my pall

Throw bunches of roses all over my coffin

Throw roses to deaden the clods as they fall

"Oh, beat the drum slowly, and play the fife lowly

And play the dead march as you carry me along

Take me to the green valley and lay the earth o'er me

For I'm a poor cowboy and I know I've done wrong"

We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly

And bitterly wept as we carried him along

For we all loved our comrade, so brave, young and handsome

We all loved our comrade although he done wrong

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Albums:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic / Caragan Wind
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

A few words about this song ...
"Mom said we didn't have a horse named Nellie but her Grandma did and that justifies the song."
Gary

You and me Nellie/Back in our prime

We could turn on a nickel/Spin on a dime

We were green as the grass/Like new young vines

You and me Nellie/We just ran out of time

Oh Sweet Nellie/Your such a good old horse

You know times are tough/But then they could get worse

If your tail is south/We must be headin north

Take me home Sweet Nellie/Your such a good old horse

Well I had me a girl/In my drifter days

She was southern born/She was southern raised

While you rolled in the grass/We rolled in the hay

But I was gone in the morning/I couldn't change my ways

We've been over the mountains/Across the plains

Bent by the wind/Near drowned by the rain

You carried my body/You carried my pain

Oh Sweet Nellie/You were good on the rein

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN
Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

Beyond the stairs / beyond the hall

The shadows rise / the shadows fall

She lives / behind those walls

On main street

She dreams / a young girls dreams

Ah those kisses / taste so sweet

Then burn / like kerosene

On main street

Chorus

She was born / beneath the sun

Like each / and everyone

Her life / had just begun

On main street

I wonder / if she's cryin’

In her heart / in her mind

It's all / a waste of time

On main street

The young and restless / on parade

So defiant / filled with rage

Starring on / the centre stage

On main street

She stands / beneath a light

Looking harder / than the night

Waiting for her / shinning knight

On main street

Chorus

Reprise

The sirens / scream with fear

Their echoes / disappear

In the silence / of the tears / she cries

On main street

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Album:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic
Publisher:   Helping Hand Music

I'd like to share old memories and talk about my hometown

She was a good time place thru a little boys eyes so amazed at what he saw

Like an Indian man with his hair in braids and a feather just for show

His black-eyed baby at his mama's breast by the stove in the general store

You could still get stuck on main street in the spring in a heavy rain

Play hide and seek in the alley in back of the Chinaman's caf’

And the farmer's wives went shoppin’ while the men folk spent some time

At a place they called the ten cent store cause a beer just cost a dime

And a fist fight just outside that door would always draw a crowd

It never once occurred to me why the women weren't allowed

He was ten years old and barefoot he never had a care

Mother natures keepin’ time she don't always keep it fair

Now I've got the time to write some lines bout the happy times I knew

And being ten years old and barefoot was the best that I could do

Now the barbershop and poolroom they were one and the very same

With a board across the barbers chair you could watch them play the game

Layin’ pennies on the railway tracks when the passenger came thru

And I swear that a thousand gophers stared down the barrel of my twenty-two

At hockey games and cowboy shows was our chance to make some noise

And I know that every friend I had thought the girls were the same as the boys

We didn't know bib overalls would someday be in style

Boredom was a word that I wouldn't know for quite awhile

So it don't matter where you live it don't matter where you die

Stay ten years old and barefoot until your eighty five

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

As I rode / Through a meadow / of Fire weed

I saw / The faint traces of / Wagon tracks

They followed the miners / Through the Caribou Hills

There were rumours of gold / To be found

In the ruts / I saw ghosts / of Wagon trains

The trail / Seemed almost / Impossible

They counted their losses / With grey wooden crosses

They were told / There was gold / To be found

You just picked it / Right up off the ground

Yellow fever / Must have give them the chills

Coming down with the fever / In the Caribou Hills

Yellow fever / It cures and it kills

Coming down with the fever / In the Caribou Hills

By a creek / In a cabin / A miner built

I found a torn / Yellow page / From his diary

He said gold I will bring / But I must wait for spring

It lies on the / Cold frozen ground

And the snow is pilled deep / At the cabin door

I burned up / My last stick / of firewood

I’m comin’ down with a fever / I just lie here and shiver

With visions of gold in my brain

The wind and the wolves / Call my name

Yellow fever / Must have give him the chills

As I rode / Through the creek / Clear water flowed

My horse kicked up stones / In a gravel bed

As my luck would have it / I found a shiny gold nugget

It was true / There was gold / To be found

I just picked it / Right up off the ground

Now I toil and I curse / In this useless old mine

No more gold nuggets / Not one did I find

Yellow fever / Gives me the chills

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN
Albums:   Caragana Wind / Grande Olde Ride
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

A few words about this song ...

"Life leaves a lot of scars that never quite disappear. That sounds a bit preachy I know but we've all got them. Hang in there for the long haul folks and keep that cowboy spirit."

Gary

Love can be locked up like treasure

Sometimes we can't find the key

But if love was a rule we could measure

There'd be more than we ever would need

But the words fly like poisoned tipped arrows

And the eyes flash with hard bitter tears

The barbs cut right through to the marrow

And the scars never quite disappear

We will stay for the long, long haul

Hang right in for the long, long haul

We will roll on/ down that old highway

Stay for the long, long haul

Hang right in/ For the long, long haul

Two hearts so silently breaking

They each blame the other in turn

Love could have been theirs for the taking

But the bridges were blackened and burned

All the beds we have chosen to lie on

Can either be roses or thorns

Sometime to weep and to cry on

Sometimes tender and warm

Writer:   Mickey Newbury
Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running
Publishers:   Sony / ATV Acuff Rose Music SOCAN

Doggone my soul / How I love them old songs

They were a comfort to me / When I was alone

The dancing stops but the / Music goes on

Doggone my soul / How I love them old songs

Ah when I hear that / Double eagle guitar

Makes me think / How trouble free girl we are

There was a time / I spent my nights in a bar

Playin’ that old juke box / Until the honky tonk got locked up

Doggone my mind / It just won’t leave me alone

Keeps on reminding me / I’m so far from home

Those heartbeakin’ / achin’ / Eggs and bacon country songs

Well they take me back to / Hardwood floors / Outdoor johns and mason jars

It’s all I can do / To believe that it’s gone

That hard knockin’ / Rock and rollin’ / Life that I’ve known

The dancing stops but the music must go on

Doggone my soul / How I love then old songs

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard, Nathan Tinkham / SOCAN
Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / Rhythm Range Music / SOCAN

There's a train a comin’

Comin thru the wilderness

A train a comin’ thru the wilderness

There's a train a comin’

Got big wheels a hummin

A train a comin’ thru the wilderness

The hammers ring, the hammers pound

Twin ribbons of steel gonna lay ‘em down

Cross the Big Plateau to a Yukon town

Twin ribbons of steel gonna lay ‘em down

Over a hundred years ago

A line was built from coast to coast

Now were layin’ steel for the Iron Horse

From the 49 to the Great White North

The Yukon River hauled the ore

But the paddle wheels turn no more

So we'll snake her up to the Arctic Shore

And the mighty wheels will roll

Writers:   Valdy & Doris Mason
Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running
Publishers:   Well Written Songs, Big Shore Music, Stony Plain Records / SOCAN

They been out playin’ hockey / They were a hungry bunch

So Dave took the kids in / For a bite of lunch

This VLT was there / Clangin’ and chirpin’

No one was playin’ / It was really disturbin’

So Dave pulled the plug / On the VLT

Dave pulled the plug / On the VLT

That’s the video lottery terminal

Dave pulled the plug / On the VLT

Somewhere in New Brunswick / An alarm went off

The guard sat up so fast / He spilled his coffee

Bells were ringing / Lights were blinking red

This has never happened before / He said

When that plug came out and / The jangling abated

The waitress looked sharply / Up from her plate

Pulling the plug is strictly forbid

And Dave pulled that sucker / Right off of the grid

If you ask me / Dave’s a hero / For seeing / An annoyance stop

It was a good solution / To noise pollution

But try to tell that / To the cops

Who came racing in / Expecting a riot

And here was this family / Eating real quiet

We can do it too / We oughta try it

They tell us were locked in / But I don’t buy it

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN
Album:   Caragana Wind
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

A few words about this song ...
"It's a waltz, you don't have to hang on every word. Just dance. Well, there could be a couple of questions after so best to listen a bit."
Gary

An old fashioned waltz / The old country hall

We had our first dance / I remember it well

Someone opened the door / Let in the moon

We whirled round the floor

Ignored every one in the room

Falling in love

We were out waltzing / with a whisper of love

An old fashioned whisper of love

A family band / Played on and on

We danced every dance / To familiar old songs

Every young cowboy / Knew you were mine

They still took their chances

Patiently waiting in line

Hoping to have

Just one slow dance and a / Whisper of love

An old fashioned whisper of love

Then I took you home / As proud as can be

Would you spend your life / With a cowboy like me

Look at us now / Holdin on tight

Still making plans

To go dancing on Saturday night

Still so in love

We'll go out waltzing with a / Whisper of love

An old fashioned whisper of love

Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard / SOCAN
Album:   Grande Olde Ride
Publishers:   Slim Creek Music / SOCAN

In the wild days

In the wild wild days

With an old rag top 51 Ford

Half customized / half rust

In the wild days

On a Saturday night

Followin’ the leader

Through the trails / through the pines

Singin’ just like Elvis

Howlin’ at the moon

And we were just the coolest / of the coo-oo-oo-ool

In the wild days with you

I get lonesome

For those wild days with you

When I think about that first kiss

When puppy love / was so true

Testosterone

And hormones

Kickin’ like a young colt

Kick us both again and again / the wild days

Howlin’ at the moon

We were just the coolest of the coo-oo-oo-ool

In those wild days with you

We are still the coolest of the coo-oo-oo-ool

In these wild days with you

Writer:   Mickey Newbury
Album:   Contenders Two: Still in the Running
Publishers:   Sony / ATV Acuff Rose Music / SOCAN

You only live once / In awhile

So let’s live for the day / We’re alive

Between the first step / And the last mile

We only live once / In awhile

The hobo has taken / The last milk train home

The blue bird has packed up / Her singing and gone

My lady and me / Will be up for the dawn

We only live once / In awhile

See the willow / How she catches the wind

Following me / Down the road / Round the bend

Over the years / She has taught me my friends

That we only live once / In awhile

Writer:   Gary Fjellgaard
Album:   The Collection: Solo Acoustic
Publisher:   Slim Creek Music

Zane Grey / You're my hero

I lived every line / You ever wrote / Back on the farm

Zane Grey / It's all over

But we had us a time / A good time / Back on the Farm

I was prairie born and prairie raised

I read every book by Zane Grey

He wrote down every dream I had / Some have never changed

I rode bareback on an old white horse

Thought I was riding Silver

From Texas up to Abilene / We crossed those dusty plains

When the bank got robbed in Santa Fe

When the bandits crossed the border

I tracked them down in Mexico / Not one of them survived

When the desperadoes took the girl

When they held her up for ransom

I rode to the rescue guns ablaze / I took her back alive

Now the Riders of the Purple Sage

Are just Shadows on the Trail

The Vanishing Americans

Just up and rode away