Buckaroo or Cowpuncher

On a late spring morning in West Texas
riding through pasture overgrown with brush

cowpunchers pushed a calf into a clearing
The animal needed to be roped if it was a yearling

The cowboy throws a loop around the yearling’s neck and hears it mourn
The calf can’t escape the rope tied to the Cowboys saddle horn

A thousand miles away there’s a sleepy buckaroo
He tosses a big loop toward an unsuspecting little moo

he handles the calf as quietly as possible
so the calf doesn’t choke
The calf instinctively pulls against the cowboys’ rope

The buckaroo rides a Wade saddle
With chinks and guides him with leather to his horse

Texas cowpunchers prefer swell-fork saddle, full-length chaps, and split reins with a little less force

In Nevada, California, or Oregon they are called buckaroos
Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona a cowpuncher is the term they choose

You can find a true buckaroo in Colorado or Nebraska
But it’s a hard-core cowpuncher you’ll find in Montana

The bottom line is there’s plenty of cowboys in any state
who’ll come when you call them and not hesitate

having the right kind of horse and gear
was their main concern every year

Nevertheless, the culture of the buckaroos
cowpuncher or whatever name they choose

The Cowboys’ equipment was always refined
Ropes and chaps and saddles especially designed

to fit the landscape and methods of working cattle
whether branding calves or doctoring yearlings, it was a battle

Just as thick, thorny brush compels a cowpuncher to tie his rope
heading and heeling in the branding pen causes a buckaroo to grope

For whatever was needed to get their job done
Cowpuncher or a buckaroo, in the end, the rancher won

Whatever they were called Cowpunchers or Buckaroos

The life of the cowboy was theirs to choose