"Murrietta's Head" lyrics - DAVE ALVIN

Come on and saddle up boys 'cause the governor said
He'll pay three thousand dollars for Murrietta's Head

I hear Joaquin Murrietta's steals horses and gold
Killed a sheriff in Mariposa or so I'm told
He's the Devil's bloody bastard, wicked and no good
But all the Mexican's swear that's he's Robin Hood
Well, with my wife and my sons I work as hard as I can
On thirteen acres of California land
But the rains never came and I got debts I can't pay
Now the banks gonna steal my farm away

So, come on and saddle up, boys, 'cause the governor said
He'll pay three thousand dollars for Murrietta's Head
He don't want him alive, he wants him dead
He'll pay three thousand dollars for Murrietta's Head

I hear Joaquin Murrietta rides to avenge
The murder of his wife by a mob of drunk men
Well, I don't give a damn if it's a lie of if it's true
'Cause for his family ain't much a man won't do
You see the fever came around and my youngest boy took ill
And I didn't have money to pay no doctor's bills
So I buried his body beneath that oak on the hill
But if I had some money I swear he'd be alive still

So, come on and saddle up, boys, 'cause the governor said
He'll pay three thousand dollars for Murrietta's Head
He don't want him alive, he wants him dead
He'll pay three thousand dollars for Murrietta's Head

Now the Bible says, you reap what you sow
That may be right but I really don't know
Well, if it is Murrietta will be damned to Hell
And when I kill him, I'll be damned as well

So, come on and saddle up, boys, 'cause the governor said
He'll pay three thousand dollars for Murrietta's Head
He don't want him alive, he wants him dead
He'll pay three thousand dollars for Murrietta's Head