This song was inspired by a trip with Ramblin' Jack Elliott through West Texas. We home based in Alpine, where there was a big cowboy poetry gathering; in between gigs Jack's old friends would take us all around and show us that beautiful country. Months later I woke up thinking about all those places and this little western story came to me, about a very assertive woman and the ongoing horrors of greed.
My good friend; the beautiful and talented Candace McNulty, was kind enough to lend her talent and sing on this for me - thank you Candace!
Lyrics
Lights of Marfa
Garrick Rawlings ©2011
When death came down on Austin
Nobody said a word
A fright came over Texas
Had the law lost it’s nerve
Where was Nellie Johnson
Her brothers and her son
She’d seen this before
Way back in ’51
Did she follow the lights of Marfa
Straight up into the sky
Or did she ride down to Terlingua
And cross the Rio Grande
Did she make the choice to run away
Or make her final stand
On the other side of the Rio Grande
A freight train is comin’
It’s blowin’ down the tracks
It’s headed for Las Cruces
And there ain’t no turnin’ back
Here comes Sheriff Walker
He ain’t nobody’s friend
Unless you pay protection
Or own half of the Big Bend
When money makes the truth a lie
It can break an honest man
When justice hits the dead of night
One does what they can
[Chorus]
The old man named Rudolph
He owned everything around
There ain’t no way in hell
They’re gonna take his son down
Well she snuck up on ol Rudy
She put a bullet in his head
She said you dirty rotten louse
That one’s for my dad
Armed robbery ain’t murder
But Nellie knew the score
If she didn’t bust a move
She’d be buryin’ four more
[Chorus]