(aka Buffalo Skinners)
Traditional, as performed by Bob Dylan during the early years of the Never Ending Tour
Tabbed by Eyolf Østrem
All versions are played with a lot of hammer-ons.
In some verses the final Em is played as an Em9 (022032)
Em C Em
'Twas in the town of Jacksboro in the year of '73
Em C Em
When a well-known, famous drover came a-steppin' up to me
Em C G C/g C /f#
Saying, How do you do, young cowboy, and how'd you like to go
Em C Em
And spend the summer pleasantly on the trail of the buffalo
Me being out of work right then, to this drover I did say This going out on the buffalo range depends upon your pay But if you will pay good wages, transportation to and fro I think I might go with you all the way to the buffalo
I will pay good wages, and transportation too If you'll agree to work for me until the season's through But if you do get homesick and try to run away Em9 You'll starve to death on the buffalo range and also lose your pay.
With all this flattering talking, he signed up quite a train Some ten or twelve in number, some able-bodied men Our trip it was a pleasant one as we hit the westward road 'Til we reached old Boggy Creek in the range of the buffalo
There our pleasures ended and our troubles they begun A lightning storm it hit us and it made the cattle run Got all full of stickers from the cactus that did grow Indians waiting to pick us off from the hills of Mexico
[tape cut]
Our souls were cased in a buffalo [weed], and our hearts were cased in steel. The hardships on the prairie, they make your poor heart [real] couldn't drink the water, oh boys it was no [...] of us on the buffalo range in the hills of the buffalo.
Well, the working season ended but the drover would not pay He said "You boys went and drunk too much, you're all in debt to me" But the cowboys never did hear of such a thing as a bankrupt law So we left that drover's bones to bleach in the hills of the buffalo
Now we crossed Pease River, and homeward we are bound No more on the buffalo range will we ever be found Go home to our wives and sweethearts and tell others not to go For God has forsaken the buffalo range and the damned old buffalo.
Dmadd9/a x03230 Fmaj7 x03210 or x33210 or 133210
Am Dmadd9/a Am
'Twas in the town of Jacksboro in the year of '73
Am Dmadd9/a Am
When a well-known, famous drover came steppin' up to me
Am C F(maj7)
Saying, How do you do, young cowboy, and how'd you like to go
Am Dmadd9/a Am
And spend the summer pleasantly on the range of the buffalo
Am Dmadd9/a Am
'Twas in the town of Jacksboro in the year of '73
Am Dmadd9/a Am
When a well-known, famous drover came steppin' up to me
Am C F
Saying, How do you do, young cowboy, and how'd you like to go
Am Dmadd9/a Am
And spend the summer pleasantly on the range of the buffalo
The rest of the verses are played more like the Maple version. No two verses are played the same way, though.
Am C Am
'Twas in the town of Jacksboro in the year of '73
Am C Am
When a well-known, famous drover came steppin' up to me
Am C F(maj7)
Saying, How do you do, young cowboy, and how'd you like to go
Am
And spend the summer pleasantly on the range of the buffalo