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The Ballad of Raymond Cane

by Harold Fethe

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about

The Ballad of Raymond Cane is my response to a dare from my writing partner, Earl Wallace. "Cane sugar," Earl said. "Something to do with cane sugar."

I remembered a cowboy song my Uncle Pat sang when I was in grade school. That was the day I found out that music can make you cry. With the spirits of Earl Wallace and Uncle Pat Moore looking over my shoulder, I set out to combine Earl's two-word prompt with my uncle's ability to put emotion into a story.

Here's the result--a cowboy song I never expected to write.

That is so SWEET! I felt like I was watching a Tarantino movie....!!
You look good in a cowboy hat in my imagination.
---Linda Manzer, guitar builder for Pat Metheny, Paul Simon

lyrics

The Ballad of Raymond Cane

© 2015
Harold Fethe and Earl W. Wallace

My given name is Raymond Cane
An easy rider born
As any man ever sat behind
A Western saddle’s horn

I grew up lean as a dry string bean
From workin’ a cowboy’s day
And I learned the charm of an evening warm
Somewhere along the way

My first time’s just a memory
I keep her letter still
Sweet Madeleine swept me away
In a cabin on a hill

She said she feared the life I’d find
If ever I went to claim it
Her cheeks were red sitting by the bed
The day she chose to name it

“They’re bound to call you Sugar Cane
You’re cursed with pleasing ways”
She told me then, and I’ve learned again
And that’s the name that stayed

I passed my middle years around
To make the women smile
Like someone’s favorite recipe
It pleased me for a while

Then Stella came to that rodeo
There was nothing I had in mind
“Sugar Cane?” she said, and I turned my head
And left my past behind

For seven years our luck would hold
We loved and worked and rode
But the highway was wet, I can see it yet
When that trucker lost his load

Now no one calls me Sugar Cane
It’s been a long time back
Stella’s spurs hang on the wall
The silver’s turning black

My given name is Raymond Cane
An easy rider born
As any man ever sat behind
A Western saddle’s horn

I grew up lean as a dry string bean
From workin’ a cowboy’s day
But I learned the charm of an evening warm
Somewhere along the way…

credits

released September 26, 2016
Harold Fethe, vocal and guitar

license

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Harold FETHE Half Moon Bay, California

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