Rayburn Crane - Tom Russell

Rayburn Crane he rode these mountains

like the streams he rode 'em through

Through the Farewell Gap and the Franklin Lakes

Up North to Chagupa Plateau

With the government men and the hunters and the dudes

And the leaders of the business world

Yah, Rayburn Crane was a packhorse man

And a mighty good hand with a mule.

Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane

The Mountains and the Valleys and the Trees

Remember your name.

He rode 45 years through the mountains and the

valleys just a-pullin' them strings of mules

And the ropes and the chaps and the halters & the

saddles well these were Rayburn’s tools

Sittin' down at night by the firelight talkin'

and a-pullin' at the whiskers on his chin

You didn’t need no music when Rayburn went to talkin'

'bout the mountains and the packhorse men.

Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane

The Mountains and the Valleys and the Trees

Remember your name.

Well the business men they bought these

mountains for a big time ski resort

An Ol' Rayburn he’s gone down to die

in a Three Rivers' trailer court

And the canvas-flapjack-cooktent moans

with the bushes and the trees in the wind

'Cause there ain’t no place in a ski resort

for a mule skinnin' packhorse man.

Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane

The Mountains and the Valleys and the Trees

Remember your name.

Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane

The Mountains and the Valleys and the Trees

Remember your name.