I was standin' 'round town just a-spendin' my time,
Nothin' else to spend, not even a dime
When a feller steps up and he says, "I suppose
You're a bronc' bustin' man by the looks of your clothes."
"You guessed me right, and a good one," I claim,
"Do you happen to have any bad ones to tame?"
He says, "I've got one and a bad one to buck;
At throwin' bronc riders he's had lots of luck."

Well, it's oh, that strawberry roan,
Oh, that strawberry roan!
He says, "This old pony ain't never been rode,
And the boy that gets on him is sure to get throwed."
Oh, that strawberry roan!

I gets all excited and I ask what he pays
To ride this old goat for a couple of days.
He offers a ten spot. I says, "I'm your man,
For the bronc never lived that I couldn't fan;
No, the bronc never lived, nor he never drew breath
That I couldn't ride till be starved plumb to death."
He says, "Get your saddle, I'll give you a chance."
We got in the buckboard and rode to the ranch.

Well, it's oh, that strawberry roan,
Oh, that strawberry roan!
We stayed until morning, and right after chuck
We goes out to see how that outlaw could buck.
Oh, that strawberry roan!

Well, down in the horse corral standing alone,
Was that old cavayo, old strawberry roan.
His legs were spavined, and he had pigeon toes,
Little pig eyes and a big Roman nose,
Little pin ears that were crimped at the tip,
With a big 44 branded 'cross his left hip;
He's ewe-necked and old, with a long lower jaw,
You can see with one eye he's a reg'lar outlaw.

Well, it's oh, that strawberry roan,
Oh, that strawberry roan!
He's ewe-necked and old, with a long lower jaw,
You can see with one eye he's a reg'lar outlaw.
Oh, that strawberry roan!

Well I puts on my spurs and I coils up my twine,
I piled my loop on him, I'm sure feeling fine.
I piled my loop on him, and well I knew then,
If I rode this old pony, I'd sure earn my ten,
I put the blinds on him, it sure was a fight,
Next comes my saddle, I screws her down tight
I gets in his middle and opens the blind,
I'm right in his middle to see him unwind

Well, it's oh, that strawberry roan,
Oh, that strawberry roan!
He lowered his old neck and I think he unwound
He seemed to quit living down there on the ground
Oh, that strawberry roan!

He went up towards the east and came down towards the west,
To stay in his middle I'm doin' my best,
He's about the worst bucker I've seen on the range
He can turn on a nickel and give you some change.
He turns his old belly right up to the sun
He sure is one sun-fishin' son of a gun!
I'll tell you, no foolin', this pony can step,
But I'm still in his middle and buildin' a rep

Well, it's oh, that strawberry roan,
Oh, that strawberry roan!
He goes up on all fours and comes down on his side
I don't know what keeps him from losin' his hide
Oh, that strawberry roan!

I loses my stirrup and also my hat,
I starts pulling leather, I'm blind as a bat;
With a big forward jump he goes up on high
Leaves me sittin' on nothin' way up in the sky
I turns over twice, and I comes back to earth
I lights in a-cussin' the day of his birth
I know there is ponies I'm unable to ride
Some are still living, they haven't all died.

Well, it's oh, that strawberry roan,
Oh, that strawberry roan!
I'll bet all my money the man ain't alive
That can stay with old strawberry when he makes his high dive.
Oh, that strawberry roan!
 

The Castration of the Strawberry Roan
(traditional)

I was layin' round town in a house of ill fame,
Laid up with a rough, tough hustlin' dame,
When a hop-headed pimp with his nose full of coke
Beat me outta that woman and left me stone broke.

When up steps a feller and he says, "Say, my lad,
You any damn good ridin' horses that's bad?"
I says, "You damn right! That's one thing I can do.
I'm a second-rate pimp, but a good buckaroo.

"Bring on your bad horses' cause I never saw one
That had me a guessin' or bothered me none."
He said. "Guess again, there's one horse that I own,
You might have heard of him, the Strawberry Roan."

I says, "I guess we've all heard of that ball bearin' stud,
He's got epizootic, the glanders, and crud,
He's the worst fuckin' outlaw that ever been foaled,
He hadn't been rode and he's twenty years old."

 Oh! the Strawherry Roan, how many colts has he thrown?
He's got gonorrhea, the cankers, and syph,
He's strictured with clap but his cock is still stiff
Oh! that renegade Strawberry Roan.

The upshot of it was that I found myself hired
To snap out some colts that that breed stud had sired;
They was knot-headed cayuses just like their dad
Most of 'em roan, and all of 'em bad.

From mornin' till night how those bastards did fight,
Till my ass drug my tracks out way before night,
With my balls in my boots and my mouth full of shit,
I's plum tuckered out and all ready to quit.

When up steps the boss and he says, "That's enough,
Them strawberry roan colts is just too damn tough;
I'm plum sick and tired seein' you take them falls,
Rope that man-killin' stud and we'll carve out his balls."

 Oh! the Strawberry Roan, we went out to unbend his bone
I built a big loop and went in the corral,
Roped his front feet, and he farted and fell,
And we flattened ol' Strawberry Roan.

The boss held his head, and I hog tied his legs,
Got out my jackknife and went for his eggs:
When I carved on his bag, he let out a squall,
And squealed like a pig when I whittled one ball.

But all I could locate was one of his nuts,
The other was hidden somewhere in his guts,
So I rolled up my sleeves and all over blood
I fished for the seed in the guts of that stud.

I thought I had found it, I felt something pass,
But it was only a turd on the way to his ass;
Just then I heard one of them blood-curdlin' squalls,
And I looked and the roan had the boss by the balls.

I tromped on his head, but it wasn't no use,
He was just like a bulldog, he wouldn't turn loose;
So I untied his legs, and he got to his feet,
But the boss's voice changed, and I knew we was beat.

 Oh! the Strawberry Roan, I advise you to leave him alone
He's a knot-headed cayuse with only one ball,
And the boss he's a eunuch with no balls at all,
Lay off of the Strawberry Roan