The Glory Trail
(High-Chin Bob)
by Badger Clark
'Way high up the Mogollons,
Among the mountain tops,
A lion cleaned a yearlin's bones
And licked his thankful chops,
When on the picture who should ride,
A-trippin' down a slope,
But High-Chin Bob, with sinful pride
And mav'rick hungry rope.
"Oh, glory be to me," says he,
"And fame's unfadin' flowers!
All meddlin' hands are far away;
I ride my good top-hawse today
And I'm top-rope of the Lazy J—
Hi! kitty-cat, you're ours!"
That lion licked his paw so brown
And dreamed soft dreams of veal—
And then the circlin' loop swung down
And roped him 'round his meal.
He yowled quick fury to the world
Till all the hills yelled back;
The top-hawse gave a snort and whirled
And Bob caught up the slack.
"Oh, glory be to me," laughs he.
"We hit the glory trail.
No human man as I have read
Darst loop a ragin' lion's head,
Nor ever hawse could drag one dead
Until we told the tale."
'Way high up the Mogollons
That top-hawse done his best,
Through whippin' brush and rattlin' stones,
From canyon-floor to crest.
But ever when Bob turned and hoped
A limp remains to find,
A red-eyed lion, belly roped
But healthy, loped behind.
"Oh, glory be to me," grunts he.
"This glory trail is rough,
Yet even till the Judgment Morn
I'll keep this dally 'round the horn,
For never any hero born
Could stoop to holler: ''Nuff!'"
Three suns had rode their circle home
Beyond the desert's rim,
And turned their star-herds loose to roam
The ranges high and dim;
Yet up and down and 'round and 'cross
Bob pounded, weak and wan,
For pride still glued him to his hawse
And glory drove him on.
"Oh, glory be to me," sighs he.
"He kain't be drug to death,
But now I know beyond a doubt
Them heroes I have read about
Was only fools that stuck it out
To end of mortal breath."
'Way high up the Mogollons
A prospect man did swear
That moon dreams melted down his bones
And hoisted up his hair:
A ribby cow-hawse thundered by,
A lion trailed along,
A rider, ga'nt but chin on high,
Yelled out a crazy song.
"Oh, glory be to me!" cries he,
"And to my noble noose!
Oh, stranger, tell my pards below
I took a rampin' dream in tow,
And if I never lay him low,
I'll never turn him loose!"
THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG
John Lomax, a reknown folklorist and collector of Western songs, was at a ranch in New Mexico when he heard a cowboy sing, "High Chin Bob". The cowboy didn't know where the words had come from, but Lomax quickly wrote them down in his journal. Later, Lomax published the song with the notation that the author was "Unknown" and that it was indigenous verse from the open range.
When Badger Clark found out that his poem had been published, not only without his permission but also with "Unknown Author" on it, he wryly said: "Very, very true."
The introduction to the most recent edition of Sun and Saddle Leather relates Badger Clark's own version of how the song came into being: "It began when I was with an outfit of ten men driving seven hundred cattle to the shipping point after the roundup. I was acting as cook because the regular incumbent had gone to town and stayed there. One night while washing my pots and kettles, I heard the boys around the fire discussing a cow-puncher over in the mountains who, the week before, had roped a bobcat and 'drug' it to death. The boys spent some time swapping expert opinions on the incident, so it stuck in my mind, incubated and eventually hatched out as The Glory Trail.
"Nobody said anything about the poem, good or bad, as I remember, and I reckoned it had fallen rather flat.
"Several years later a friend sent me a copy of Poetry Magazine which featured High Chin Bob. I found a real native folksong which the cowboys were accustomed to carol in their long rides over the romantic wildernesses of the Southwest. What was my amazement, in examining this literary curiosity, to find that it was my Glory Trail, with slight alterations. I own that the 'folksong' version is in some points more striking and easy than my more labored original, and I believe it is better known."