Smokey

There's a red bandanna
Worn by Smokey Brown,
Hanging over a tavern door,
In a small Arizona town.

I didn't know Smokey,
Or why the bandanna was there.
I asked the owner what it meant,
He said, "Pull up a chair.

Smokey was a young cowboy,
Born and raised in this town.
He left home at seventeen
To become a rodeo clown.

He worked the rodeos from California
To New York City, they say.
He'd come home now and then
But he would never stay.

There's many stories about Smokey,
I don't know which one's true.
I'll tell the one I hear most,
And leave it up to you.

Smokey was working a rodeo
In a Wyoming town.
He was a bull fighter,
You know, a rodeo clown.

He was trying to help a bull rider,
Who was thrown to the ground.
He got careless for a few seconds,
When the bull turned around.

He charged the injured cowboy;
Smokey tried to turn him away.
Between the dust and blood,
All hell broke loose that day.

Smokey tried to jump clear of the bull,
But a horn caught him in the side.
The bull tossed Smokey in the air
And somewhere up there he died.

The bull charged Smokey's lifeless body,
When he did, guess what?
A horn removed that red bandanna
Without untying the knot.

The rider's life was saved that day,
Because Smokey gave his all.
His body was carried out of the arena,
He had taken his last fall.

The owner of the rodeo stock
Gave that bandanna to me.
I hung it over the tavern door,
For all the folks to see.

Smokey became a rodeo legend,
A hero of this small town.
We're proud of that bandanna
And Smokey, the rodeo clown."

Willie P. Smith (8/20)