The Wagon Tongue (album Version) - Red Steagall

I hired on with Colonel Slaughter driving steers to Abilene

Green and wet behind the ears a kid of seventeen

Though I was raised in Texas I was not a seasoned hand

So I got the job of hoodlum the coosie's right-hand man

On the Llano Estacado all you see is endless plains

You dread the sound of thunder there's no shelter from the rain

Now the coosie did a strange thing

When the evening meal was done

He'd wait until the stars come out then move the wagon tongue

He said son there ain't no landmarks

On these wide and rollin' plains

There ain't no trees or mountains so each day it looks the same

But you'll never lose direction and you'll know just where you are

If you'll always point your wagon tongue toward that ol' north star

Out along the Cimarron one cold and stormy night

I watched the cattle stampede through the lightning's eerie light

Took several days to round 'em up get 'em settled down

And we followed in the wagon through the soft and muddy ground

As we pushed the herd across the plains we had no way to know

That we had drifted way off course towards New Mexico

But the night the stars came out his theory stood the test

Abilene's up north of us but we were headed west

He said son there ain't no landmarks

On these wide and rollin' plains

There ain't no trees or mountains so each day it looks the same

But you'll never lose direction and you'll know just where you are

If you'll always point your wagon tongue toward that ol' north star

My life has been a full one my hair is turnin' gray

And I've seen a lot of sunshine but I've seen some cloudy days

For a while I wondered aimlessly and I still wear the scars

Of when I didn't point my wagon tongue toward that ol' north star

'Cause life is like a grassy sea the trail ain't always plain

One may lead to pleasure and another lead to pain

But you'll never lose direction and you'll know just where you are

If you'll always point your wagon tongue toward that ol' north star

Yes you'll never lose direction and you'll know just where you are

If you'll always point your wagon tongue toward that ol' north star