Tom Russell - The Ballad Of Edward Abbey
[Intro]
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[Verse 1]
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It was in the town of Tucson in Nineteen Eighty-Three
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A man named Edward Abbey come a walking up to me
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He pulled his cigar from his mouth, said, "I smell lawyers here"
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The politician, running-dogs, they crawled away in fear
[Chorus]
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Singing do-ra-do
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Singing do-ra-day
[Verse 2]
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Ed walked across the desert at least a thousand times
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He spoke with javelina, slept 'neath piñon pine
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And if he saw a billboard there, he'd chop that bastard down
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Said, if a man can't piss in his own front yard, he'd never keep close to town
[Chorus]
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Singing do-ra-do
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Singing do-ra-day
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Lord, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today
[Verse 3]
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Ed had a taste for women, in fact he married quite a few
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He said, "I'd fall in love, boys, but I'm only passing through
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You know I like 'em all, boys, and some more than the rest
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I've tried my hand at monogamy, now I'm off to save the west
[Chorus]
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Singing do-ra-do
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Singing do-ra-day
[Verse 4]
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Ed died one day at sundown in his Tucson riding shack
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They wrapped him in a sleeping bag and drove him way out back
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Beneath the wild saguaro, the coyotes chewed his bones
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And on a hidden marker, was 'No Comment', carved in stone
[Chorus]
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Singing do-ra-do
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Singing do-ra-day
F C E7 Am
Yeah, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today
[Verse 5]
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Now I'm living in the desert, but the town is a-closing in
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Those cracker box developments, Ed would call a sin
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We stole this land from the Mexican and now we'll sell it back
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And they'll live like mortgage prisoners in those goddamn housing tracts
[Verse 6]
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Tell me, who votes for the mountain lion, tell me, who votes for the fox
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Who votes for the spotted owl who hides there in the rocks
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I wish that Ed would come again with a chainsaw in his hand
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And carve all up those housing tracts and take on back the land
[Chorus]
G
Singing do-ra-do
Am
Singing do-ra-day
F C E7 Am
Yeah, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today