Sam Bass lyrics

Sam Bass was born in Indiana

It was his native home

And at the age of seventeen

Sam began to roam

When Sam first came to Texas

A cowboy for to be

A kinder-hearted fellow

You seldom ever see

Sam used to deal in race stock

One called the Denton mare

He matched her in scrub races

And he took her to the fair

I used to coin the money

And spend it rather free,

He always drank good whiskey

Wherever he might be

Sam, he left the Collins ranch

In the early month of May

With a herd of Texas cattle

The Black Hills for to see

Sold out at Custer City

And then went on a spree

And a tougher set of cowboys

You seldom ever see

On their way back to Texas

They robbed the U. P. train

And then split up in couples

And started out again

Joe Collins and his partner

Was overtaken soon

With all their hard-earned money

They had to meet their doom

Sam had bold companions

Four bold and daring lads

Frank Jackson, Henry Underwood,

Joe Collins and Old Dad

Such bold and daring cowboys

The rangers never knew

They whipped the Texas Rangers

And they ran the boys in blue

Jim Murphy was arrested

And then released on bail

He jumped his bond at Tyler

And then he took off on the trail

But Major Barnes had posted him

And that was all a stall

It was a plan to capture Sam

Before the coming fall

Sam met his fate at Round Rock,

July the twenty-first

They pierced poor Sam with rifle balls

And they emptied out his purse

Sam is now a corpse

He's six-foot under clay

And Jackson's on the border

Still trying to get away

Jim, he stole Sam's good gold

And he didn't want to pay

The only way he saw to win

Was to give poor Sam away

He sold out Sam and Barnes

And he left their friends to mourn

What a scorching Jim should get

When Gabriel blows his horn

Jim Murphy sold out Sam and Barnes

And left their friends to mourn

And what a scorching Jim should get

When Gabriel blows his horn

Perhaps he's gone to heaven

There's none of us can say

But if I'm right, and my surmise

He's gone the other way

• Artist:Michael Martin Murphey
• Album:Cowboy Songs III (1993)