Lyrics
Palo Duro by Kiya Heartwood
Capo 3 Cut capo 5
Dm C
I woke up from the same dream
Dm C
I watch them as they fall
F G
the pile of dead stood as high
Dm
as three grown men tall
Dm C
Buckskins, paints, blacks and roans
Dm C
We shot them as they ran
F G
I know its how we won the war
Dm
and how we all were damned
Am G Dm
Palo Duro
My name is Lieutenant Lawton of the 4th Calvary
I served the fighting Colonel Ranald S MacKenzie
Chasing Comanches and Kiowas back up to Ft Sill
To stop the raids and killings
and break the hostiles will
We tied a Comanchero to a wagon wheel
out in the blazing sun
He told our scouts their winter camp
was in the Palo Duro Canyon
When we came down
Our horses hooves
were masked by the buffalo grass
The warriors tried to make a stand
but it would be their last
F C
This is how the West was won
G Dm
How the land was cleared
F C
Our guns were hot, the air was thick
G Dm
with the smell of blood and fear
C G
We burn their blankets and their stores
Dm
Shot the ponies while they ran
F G
We couldn’t take the chance
Dm
They would steal them back again
Palo Duro
Palo Duro
They say that pile of bitter bones
Bleached away the tears
The cowboys stop
and mark the cost
that cleared the last frontier
But when the moon is hunter high
And mountains start to chill
The ghost Comanche horses run
and I know they always will
Palo Duro
Palo Duro