Four Wheel Cowboy
(C.W. McCall, Bill Fries, Chip Davis)
Break out your maps of New Mexico and Colorado, point your finger at Denver and follow along. There will be a quiz at the end.
[Chorus]
Four wheel cowboy
Four wheel cowboy
Four wheel cowboy
Jeepin’ down to Santa Fe
Well, Denver town an’ I’m outta the chute
Foot in the gas an’ a hole in my boot
And I’m outbound, yeah
Gonna see my momma in Santa Fe
I’m over the Hump and I’m on my way
I’m southbound
[Chorus]
Three hundred miles to Santa Fe
Got a momma to see or the Devil to pay
Gonna be there by the break of day
And I’m southbound
Three hundred miles to Santa Fe
Got a momma to see or the Devil to pay
Gonna be there by the break of day
And I’m southbound
Now this ol’ Jeep needs a coat a’ paint
But she makes up for what I ain’t
She got feelin’
I only know one thing fer sure
This pony a’ mine don’t need no spurs
She’s squealin’
[Chorus]
Four wheel cowboy
Four wheel cowboy
Four wheel cowboy
Jeepin’ down to Santa Fe
Well, Texaco’s open in Trinidad
I didn’t stop for gas but I wished I had
’Cause I could use some
They’s a bunch a’ wild women in Walsenburg
They all make love like a buffalo herd
I wish I knew one
[Chorus]
Two hundred miles to Santa Fe
Gonna be there by the break of day
Got a momma to see or the Devil to pay
And I’m southbound
Two hundred miles to Santa Fe
Gonna be there by the break of day
Got a momma to see or the Devil to pay
And I’m southbound
Rattlin’ down off a’ Raton Pass
Glorieta Hill like a sheet a’ glass
And I’m slippin’
Pedalin’ down past Pecos town
My go foot up and my stop foot down
I’m slidin’
[Chorus]
Four wheel cowboy
Four wheel cowboy
Four wheel cowboy
Jeepin’ down to Santa Fe
Now Momma’s just like this here ol’ Jeep
She’s tough and fast and she runs real cheap
And she’s drivin’
Well, sun comin’ up in New Mexico sky
Got a burr in my saddle and a fire in my eye
An’ I’m flyin’
[Chorus]
Fifteen miles to Santa Fe
Gonna be there by the break of day
Got a momma to see or the Devil to pay
And I’m southbound
Fifteen miles to Santa Fe
Gonna be there by the break of day
Got a momma to see or the Devil to pay
And I’m southbound
C’mon now, Paint
We almost there
Only one more mile, honey
We comin’ Momma
Here we come
Can’tcha see us comin’ Momma?
We comin’!
Only one more mile, Momma!
We stuck into four wheel drive, baby!
Here we come!
Whoo!
Q. What’s wrong with this song?
A. Nothing; it’s just a really good case of artistic license.
If you attempt to follow this journey on the map, you’ll note that the locations are mentioned in the order
- Denver
- Three hundred miles to Santa Fe
- Trinidad
- Walsenburg
- Two hundred miles to Santa Fe
- Raton Pass
- Glorieta Hill
- Pecos
- Fifteen miles to Santa Fe
- One mile to Santa Fe
If you visited those locations in the order that they were mentioned, you’d be backtracking a couple of times.
- Denver. No problem here; this is the starting point.
- Three hundred miles to Santa Fe. So far, so good. This point would be near Pueblo, Colorado.
- Trinidad. This is okay; Trindad’s south of Pueblo, and about one hundred ninety miles from Santa Fe.
- Walsenburg? Walsenburg is forty miles north of Trinidad; we’ve already driven through it.
- Two hundred miles to Santa Fe. Which would put us between Walsenburg and Trinidad.
- Raton Pass. It’s on the Colorado/New Mexico border, ten miles south of Trinidad.
- Glorieta Hill. It has nothing to do with Raton Pass. Glorieta is west of Pecos, which is about twenty miles southeast of Santa Fe. And about one hundred sixy miles from Raton Pass.
- Pecos. It’s east of Glorieta.
- Fifteen miles to Santa Fe. We’re just west of Glorieta, here.
- One mile to Santa Fe. Just south of our destination.
Strangely, C.W. never actually arrives in Santa Fe.
Okay, so I’m nitpicking. Enjoy the trip, anyway.
“Four Wheel Cowboy” can be found on the album The Best of C.W. McCall.