Way up high in the Sierry Peaks Where the yellow-jack pines grow tall, Buster Jiggs and Sagebrush Sam Had a rodear camp last fall.
Their takin' their horses and their running irons Maybe a dog or two, And allowed thy'd brand every long-eared calf That came within their view.
And any old dogie that flapped long ears And didn't bush up by day, Got his long ears whittled and his old hide sizzled In a most artistic way.
Now one fine day old Buster Jiggs, Just throwed his reata down, Says "I'm tired of cowboyograph* Boys, allows I'm a goin' into town."
So they saddled up, and they hits 'em a lope For it weren't no Saturday ride, But them was the days that a good buckaroo Could oil up his insides.
And they started in at Kentucky Bar, At the head of Whisky Row, And they wound her up at the Depot House Some forty drinks below.
Then they sets 'er up and they turns 'er around And they goes 'er the other way, I'll tell you the God-forsaken truth Them boys got drunk that day.
As they was aridin' back to camp They were apackin' a pretty good load, And who should they meet but the Devil himself Come prancin' down the road.
He says, "Here you ornery cowboy skunks You better go hunt for your holes, For I'm the devil from Hell's rim rock Come to gather in your souls.
Says Buster Jiggs, "The Devil be damned, We boys is kinda tight; But you ain't gonna gather no cowboys souls Without one helluva fight."
So he punched a hole in his old seago And he throws her strait and true Well he lapped it on to the Devil's horns He's a-takin' his dallies true.
Now Buster Jiggs was a reata man With his gut-line coiled up neat; But he shakes her out and he builds 'im a loop Caught the Devils hind feet.
Well they stretched him out and they tailed him down While the running-irons was a getting hot, They cropped and they swaller-forked his ears And they branded him up a lot.
Well they trimmed him up with a dehornin' saw Knotted in his tail for a joke, And they rode away and left him there Tied up to a blackjack oak.
So if you're ever up in the Sierry Peaks You hear one heck of a wail, You know it's the Devil just a bellerin' around About the knots in his tail.
If you're ever up in the Sierry Peaks You hear one hell of a wail, You know it's the Devil just a bellerin' around About the knots in his tail.