Coyote
©1979 Zac Reisner


Rollin through the night on a dark river of stars, way beyond the rim of the sky
The mountains ring with songs full of magic and power, when coyote lifts his cry

        Oh coyote, there's many a handsome price upon your head
        Oh coyote, you keep the farmer lying sleepless in their bed

Running through the boonies hiding out in rocky dens,
 the guns and traps and fences can't stop you
Ramblin' round the countryside like woodsmoke on the wind
 every time they turn around there's more of you

On the edge of the rail yard on the dark side of the town,
 streetlight swaying in the wind
A shadow slips by like the whisper of a ghost,
 flashing yellow eyes and wily grin

        Oh coyote, laughing up the side of the hill
        Oh coyote, if they can't kill you now they never will

May the boxcars and the power poles and the city streets be damned they come  and they go beneath the sun
But when the thunder rolls and the rivers flood again there goes coyote across  the ridge top on the run

From the headlands of the ocean to the high west Texas plain, in the slide rock  and the timber way up high
When you see the moon a-rising' and you hear coyote howl, listen well, there's  a message in his cry

        Oh coyote, there's many a timid soul who'd have you dead
        Oh coyote, before too long they just might find it's them instead

Barking up the canyon always just around the bend,
could it be there's anything that you don't know
If you would have coyotes wisdom throw your stick into the river
and see which way it's gonna flow

        Oh coyote, howlin' up the rim of the sky
        Oh coyote, you lived so long you can't remember how to die