Tom Russell Follow

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
Yea, 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
And 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