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Spirit Is Still On The Run
By Walkin’ Jim Stoltz on Wild Wind Records
All songs ©1984 by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, Walkin’ Jim Music, BMI |
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Lone Lion Runs
Edgar Griffin - 1918
The Litter Song
Sweetwater
As A Desert Day Dies
Yellowstone Tales
Follown' The Rainbow Trail
Lone Coyote Ways
The Writing On The Rock
Spirit Is Still On The Run
Go To "Forever Wild" Lyrics and Chords
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All Along The Great Divide
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G C G
1) Well, you get up in the morning, shake the dew off of your mind,
C D
As the sun pours like honey through the ponderosa pine
C D G Em
You're livin' every moment as if you've just arrived,
C D G
Because you know what it means to be alive.
2) The crystal morning is broken with a cooin' of a dove
As you head on up the trail to the highlands up above
Where the colors of the rainbow, are the flowers at your feet,
And your heart sings a song with every beat.
C D G C D G
Chorus: All along the Great Divide, yes we can understand,
C D G C D G
What it means to be alive, All along the Great Divide.
3) You tramp across the ridgeline as the world spreads down below,
And you're feeling like a king, just a-hoardin' o'er his gold,
You think that if you take another breath you'll just explode
And you feel the choir a-singin' in your soul.
(Repeat Chorus)
4) The hawk on the wing cries her warning from the sky,
Still you find yourself a-starrin' into a grizzly's lonesome eyes,
As she turns away in boredom, you're frozen by her size,
And you know what it means to be alive.
(Repeat Chorus)
5) The sun slowly sets into its crimson sea,
And the darkness comes a-creepin' like another world set free,
The heavens light to greet you to another starry night
And the wonder of the great Northern Lights.
(Final Chorus)
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Lone Lion Runs
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G C
1) On the high snow-topped mountain where the weathered pinyon pine
G Em C D
Where the mountain winds are born and the eagles feathers shine
G C
There's a creature crying in the night it echoes through the hills,
G Em D G
He looks down at the valley's lights then turns back to his kill.
C G Em
Chorus: Lone lion runs and the lone lion cries
C Am C D
He used to roam this whole land, but now he just gets by.
C G Em
Lone lion runs and the lone lion cries.
C D G
Tomorrow the lone lion dies.
2) Well, he took it all in stride when the West he knew had died
He took to the lonesome places, swept there by the tide.
He'd wonder at the sights of them sparklin' city lights
But when he saw what we had done he just cried out at the night.
(Repeat Chorus)
3) Now the subdivisions knocking on the mountain's every door
And lots of folks are going where they never walked before.
The king's domain is shrinking like a cloud torn in the sky,
The writings on the wall that's why you'll hear him cry.
(Final Chorus)
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Edgar Griffin - 1918
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G C G
1) Just a name carved in a tree, I guess it was meant to be,
C Am D
Set my mind to wonderin' who he was,
G C G Em
Did you walk the trails I walk? Did you hear the coyotes talk?
C Am D
Were you here on account of just because?
C D G Em
Did you roam alone, did you have a home, Did you go when you had to go?
C D
Who were you? I'd like to know.
C G C
Refrain: Who were you? And what trails, what trails have you seen?
G C D G
Who were you, Edgar Griffin - 19 and 18?
2) Were you young and green and restless, or were you crusty growin' old
Was your beard as white as silver, had you stories to be told.
Did you laugh at the wind? Did you smile at the sun?
Did you curse the drifted snow?
Who were you? I'd like to know. (Repeat Refrain)
3) Well, I've looked in faded photographs at all the faceless men,
And I marveled at their spirit and the places that they'd been.
And I wonder if some time that I didn't realize
If I looked into some picture and right into your eyes.
(Repeat Refrain)
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The Litter Song
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G C G C G D
1) The most beautiful spot in the whole wide world and the people come to see,
C G C D
Cameras are a-clickin' and tongues are a-tickin' and everyone agrees,
G C G C G C
It's a special spot and it should be saved, this they all believe,
C G D G
But when the sun goes down and they all go home, this is what they leave:
Refrain: G C G D
Cigarette butts like a carpet of dust and they're scattered all over the place,
C G C D
Five busted coolers and three old socks, and one ol' box of cornflakes,
G C G D
A potatoe-chip bag and a dirty rag, and a jar of dippity-do,
G C
Ten paper cups and twenty gum wrappers ----
G D G C D G
And some melted ice-cream too, (oouuwwh!) and some melted ice-cream, too!
2) There was man that we revered and we held him up so high
We built him a marble monument to mark him when he died,
And the people still come from miles around just to praise his good, proud name,
My how they crow, but when they go it's a dog-gone dirty shame.
'Cause there's bottles over here and there's cans over there
And they're scattered all over the place,
Twelve newspapers and a yellow crayon, and a moldy old chocolate cake,
There's a spool of wire and pair of pliers, and a tube of Elmers Glue,
Three old tires and a Ding-dong wrapper ---
And a wad a toilet paper, too (oouuwwh!) and a wad of toilet paper, too!
3) We're in the space age folks lets clean up before we've gone too far
We've trashed up the Earth, but now we're reaching for the stars
When we get to the moon, well I'll stay here 'cause I've got this fear in me,'
That when I get there I'll look around, and this is what I'll see:
Cigarette butts like a carpet of dust and they're scattered all over the place,
Ten film boxes and eight pop-tops, and one old tube of tooth paste,
A Dorito bag, and a can of raid, and a worn out tennis shoe,
Three pop bottles and twenty beer cans --
And a dirty diaper, too (oouuwwh!) And a dirty diaper, too!
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Sweetwater
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G F
1) That Wyoming wind she's a tough one my friend,
C G
She sings like she never will end.
F
She rolls down the Great Divide, cross the Red Deserts side,
C D
And stalks you like a long lost friend.
Em C
The water holes are far and few, you’ve got to take what comes to you,
Am D
You've got to walk for days then round the bend,
Chorus: G Am
What waters are these that flow through the barrens,
C G
A ribbon of green, how she falls,
G Am
Some call her the wine or the dew on the vine,
C D G
But lord knows the Sweetwater calls.
2) Wild space will feed your mind, mid-day sun will burn you blind,
Your boots will leave their story in the dust.
But the night will bring a chill and later snow I know it will
The seasons here ain't nothing you can trust,
Then comes the day you can't go on, but you top the hill and start to run
There she goes a-singin' through the dust.
(Chorus)
3) It was many years ago, o'er a hundred or so, When the buffalo flowed like drops of rain,
Their tracks are all gone, but I still hear their song,
Mingled with this streams sweet refrain,
Down from the Wind River Range, She meets the sage and greets the plains,
Shining like some unending flame
Just a livin' up to her name.
(Chorus)
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As A Desert Day Dies
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G C G
1) As a desert day dies someone paints all the skies,
C G
As the sun goes down in a blaze,
G C G
The shadows are riled, and colors run wild,
C D
They leap 'cross the sands where you lay,
Am Em
And as the lights start to fall, the coyotes they call
G
To this world that is yours for a dream,
Am Em
Something grabs hold and it's deep in your soul,
G D
It's good and it's strong and it's clean.
Chorus:
G C G C G
Come out with me on the desert tonight, and we'll greet the stars as they rise,
C G Em
And we'll howl out a tune to the lonesome ol' moon,
C G C D G
And we'll watch as a desert day dies, we'll nod as a desert day dies.
2)We'll walk 'cross the land and the burning ol' sand, and we'll make it in the heat of the day,
We'll thirst and we'll sweat, we might even regret when the water is ten miles away,
But then the sun starts to set and I'm willing to bet that the magic has stirred in your bones,
And the stillness sets in and I know you'll begin, to find yourself right at home.
(Repeat Chorus)
3)I know you're a city girl and that ain't a fault, I once was a man about town,
But there's another side a-hidin' on this world we're a ridin',
If we just take the time to slow down,
So give me your hand and we'll walk 'cross the land, we'll throw all our love to the wind,
And as a desert day dies we'll seal all our ties to the One and The Way once again.
(Final Chorus)
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Yellowstone Tales
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G Am G Am
1) We've left our past behind, and we've slipped all through time,
G C D
To come onto the land once again.
G C G C
She's still sleepin' in the snow, but she's awakening, oh so slow,
G C D
The sun is shining like a long lost friend.
2) Well we've come here like pilgrims to see if it was true
If the Earth here could change like in a dream,
And we've wandered down the canyons through the lodgepole and the spruce
To find the world of geysers and of steam.
C D G
Chorus: I feel like I've found some new magic,
C D
Amidst the snow and the steam-plumed vales,
C Am G Em
And like a mountain man of old, well I guess that I've been sold,
C D G
On them snow driven Yellowstone Tales.
3) Now years ago John Colter, wandered through this land,
Unto the geyser basins he was led,
But no one would believe all the things he said he'd seen,
And I wonder if this is what he said:
(Repeat Chorus)
4) Now we sit amidst the hot pots all along the Ferris Fork
And the snow is dancin' slowly down.
And we wonder if it's real all the things we see and feel,
And we marvel at the treasures that we've found.
(Repeat Chorus)
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Followin' The Rainbow Trail
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G C G C G
1) I seen a friend the other day, he says, "Jim where the Hell you been?"
C G C D
I been out runnin' with them ol' coyotes, I been out there singin' in the wind.
G C D G
Chorus: I've been followin', followin' the Rainbow Trail,
C D G
Followin' the Rainbow Trail.
G C D G
I've been followin', followin' the Rainbow Trail,
C D G
Followin' the Rainbow Trail.
2) It led me to the mountains, in the snow I froze my feet,
Then it dropped me to the desert, I nearly died from the heat,
It led me through the canyon, there's only one they call the Grand,
It made me feel so small, but I came out a bigger man.
(Repeat Chorus)
3) It led me to the forests where them sleeping giants grow,
Then out across the plains and across the lave flows,
I swam the Salmon River, and I sat on the Frisco peaks,
If I had to do it all over, I'd start again next week.
(Repeat Chorus)
4) I pack my pack upon my back and then I set out on my way,
Lookin' for some peace of mind, you know I find it every day,
I've seen life in your cities, and I nearly went insane,
I'd rather get treed by a grizzly bear and sing in the falling rain.
(Repeat Chorus)
5) I guess I've been a dreamer, I'll admit it all along,
But if I didn't go chasin' them rainbows, I wouldn't be singin' these songs.
(Final Chorus)
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Lone Coyote Ways
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G Am
1) Now, some men were born just to toil away
C D G
The life that flows through their veins,
G Am
They spend all their days just a-grubbin' for pay,
C D G
But they go out the same way they came.
G Am C D G
Now me, I was born in a windstorm, and the points of the compass they call,
Am C D G
And if I didn't go when them high winds blow, I wouldn't have nothing at all.
C G Em C D
Chorus: I'm just a half-blooded, pup of a coyote, howlin' away my days,
C G Em
Running to ground my star-studded dreams
C D G
And living my lone coyote ways.
2) Yeh, give me that high lonesome country,
Where the winds and the alpine flowers grow,
And I'll be runnin' wild, just like some bitches child,
Knowin' what us ol' coyotes know.
(Repeat Chorus)
C G
Bridge: When I die lay me out on the desert,
C D
Let the eagles come and pick at my bones,
C G Em
Then part of me is gonna fly out across the western sky,
C D
The rest will just slip on back home.
(Repeat Chorus)
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The Writing On The Rock
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G D C
1) He must have been a rider, of that high lonesome country,
G
Must have been a-lookin' for the gold,
F G
Or perhaps he was the last of that trappin' age gone past,
F C G
If so, he was gettin' mighty old.
G D C
2) But he rode the Great Divide, with the windsong at his side,
G
As he made his way up through the pines,
F G
The spirit of the land must have touched that one lone man,
F C G
Wish that I could look back through all that Time,
Refrain: F C G
Joe Baker was his name, and I guess the story's plain,
F C G
What Time had left us here beneath the sun,
F C G
Cause all that we got, is some writing on a rock,
F C G
And an old rusted, dusted, busted gun.
3) Well, the day when it come, must have been the same as some,
Must have been a-ridin' high in the sun.
But when the bear made his move, he didn't think of when or lose,
Just dropped his reins and grabbed for his gun.
(Repeat Refrain)
4) He was built like a mountain, a brazen silver tip,
And where he roamed there was no doubt that he was king,
Like the ruler of a land, and you've got to understand,
To him a bullet didn't mean a damn thing.
5) That gun was pulled and shot, but the horse she jerked a lot,
The rider found himself upon the ground,
That ol' bear had taken lead, but he roared and shook his head,
Then he charged, and he ran the other down.
(Repeat Refrain)
6) The day was nearly through, when the rider he come to,
All broken and bloody, and all tore,
His gun lay nearby all busted and bent,
He knew he'd never use his legs no more.
7) Time it rolled on, he took the rock he lay upon,
With his knife, he carved out his tale,
And in his simple words, all his story could be heard,
Enough to turn a brave man pale.
8) "My legs are all gone, my gun is all bent,
Guess I've come to the end of my track,
I've laid here two days, I've only crawled a little ways,
Oh, my God! That Grizz! He's comin' back!
He's comin' back!
That Grizz, he's comin' back!
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Spirit Is Still On The Run
By Walkin' Jim Stoltz
G C
1) Daddy, what ever happened to the old buffalo,
G D
I know they don't roam here no more,
G C
Because at school today, they say they've gone away,
G D G
But no one ever says just what for.
C G
Well now listen my son, I'll tell you how the west was won,
D
How the herds fell to the big needle guns,
G C
But the ghosts of them herds still pound o'er the earth,
G D G
And their spirit is still on the run.
Chorus:
C G D
Yes, their spirit is still on the run, it's the American dream movin' on,
G C G D G
Their memory is free, left to you and to me, and the Spirit is still on the run.
2) Daddy, what ever happened to the ol' grizzly bear,
I know he once roamed the west wide,
But at school today they say he's pushed back to stay,
In the mountains where he has to hide.
Well, now listen my son, I'll tell you about these proud ones,
Where they stalk, all others walk small,
But man to his shame, can't stand the untamed,
And there's some that wouldn't have him at all.
(Repeat Chorus)
3) Daddy, what ever happened to the big piney forests,
And the prairies that stretched out like seas,
Because the schoolbooks they say, these were all in the way,
When the settlers come a-swarmin' like bees,
Now, listen my son, I'll tell you how all these have gone,
It's sad tale all filled with shame
Their lifesblood was bought and with the spirit it brought,
A whole country was born into fame.
Bridge: C G
And all that have died or been swept to the side,
C D
They still give us hope every one,
G C G C
They give us dreams of the free, what has been and can be,
G C D
And their spirit is still on the run.
(Final Chorus)
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