Dusty Skies

cindy walker

 

Especially clever with harmonies, Texas based cowgirl Cindy Walker wrote a lot of good western songs. This clippety-clop one is the first she wrote, at the age of 12 [!].

This is one of the very few songs she recorded herself, for the album "Words & Music by Cindy Walker", July 1964. First release was with Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, February 1942.

I picked it up from Tex Ritter's excellent 1968 Capitol album "Tex Ritter's Wild West". Sand in your boots, tighten your bandana and imagine you're fighting tumbleweeds in a howling sandstorm. Western songs MAY be more than foolish. Some, like this, describe the reality many ranchers and farmers faced way out west ... and according to ongoing clima changes, still will. We are, most probably, down to dust.

dusty skies • I can't see nothing in sight
good old Dan you'll have to guide me right
for we lose our way • the cattle will stray
and we lose them all tonight
with all of the grass and water's gone
we'll have to keep the cattle moving on
sand blowing • I just can't breathe in this air
thought it would soon be clear and fair
but the dust storms were bad • they took all we had
I've got to be moving somewhere

I hate to leave the old ranch so bare
but I've got to be moving somewhere
so get along doggies • we're moving off of this range
never thought as how I'd make the change
but the blue skies have failed • we're on our last trail
underneath these dusty skies
these ain't tears in my eyes
just sand from these dusty skies

For the following CHORD section, fullscreen/horizontal mobile is recommended.
Chords in brackets may be omitted.

A                                    A7
dusty skies  I can't see nothing in sight
D                                      A
good old Dan you'll have to guide me right
A                A7       D            A
for we lose our way  the cattle will stray
Bm  C#m E7/9 E7         A
and we lose them all tonight
      D                            A
with all of the grass and water's gone
       D                             A
we'll have to keep the cattle moving on
A                                          A7
sand blowing  I just can't breathe in this air
D                                   A
thought it would soon be clear and fair
A                         A7        D           A
but the dust storms were bad  they took all we had
    Bm C#m E7/9 E7        A
I've got to be moving somewhere