Songs of the Cowboys (1921)/Mustang Gray

by N. Howard Thorp

MUSTANG GRAY

Authorship credited to Tom Grey, Tularosa, New Mexico. I first heard it sung by a man named Sanford, who kept a saloon in La Ascension, Mexico, about 1888.

There was a brave old Texan,
They called him Mustang Gray;
He left his home when but a youth,
Went ranging far away.

But he’ll go no more a-ranging,
The savage to affright;
He has heard his last war-whoop,
And fought his last fight.

He ne’er would sleep within a tent,
No comforts would he know;
But like a brave old Tex-i-can,
A-ranging he would go.

When Texas was invaded
By a mighty tyrant foe,
He mounted his noble war-horse,
And a-ranging he did go.

Once he was taken prisoner,
Bound in chains upon the way;
He wore the yoke of bondage
Through the streets of Monterey.

A señorita loved him,
And followed by his side;
She opened the gates and gave to him
Her father’s steed to ride.

God bless the señorita,
The belle of Monterey,
She opened wide the prison door,
And let him ride away.

And when his veteran’s life was spent,
It was his last command
To bury him on Texas soil
On the banks of the Rio Grande;

And there the lonely traveler,
When passing by his grave,
Will shed a farewell tear
O’er the bravest of the brave.

And he’ll go no more a-ranging,
The savage to affright;
He has heard his last war-whoop,
And fought his last fight.