Jeremiah

Jeremiah Colter was the biggest man in town
He'd swing that hammer overhead and bring that mountain down
First light to the darkness hounding for gold
Sleep beside the fire with just a rifle and his mule

Well seven years of toiling with nothing to show but sand
Can you come up from the ground with a nugget in his hand
The way he whooped and hollered the birds flew from the trees
And he was loaded up in three days time his true love bound to see

Hadn't made it a dozen miles when hoof beats met his ears and
He urged his mule faster as the bandits drew near
He came upon a valley where a lonesome cabin stood
If he could hold them there till morning
He could hold them there for good

They broke through the brambles, five fires flickered red
Two shots broke the darkness and the first of them fell dead
They rushed the door and took it down caught the first one with
His knife
And he pinned him to the door frame, the sunset in his eyes

He was wilder than a rattlesnake and cold as the snow
He hung them up and bled them out and left him for the crows

Jeremiah Colter was the biggest man in town
He'd swing that hammer overhead and bring that mountain down
First light to the darkness hounding for gold
Sleep beside the fire with just his rifle and his mule