The Lyrics
Faint gunshots far in the distance, the howl of tires draw closer
and wake the bundle of rags sleeping under the underpass. As
the Low-Rider roars by, the thundering Mariachi music mingled
with the sharp cracks of Kalashnikovs blasting everthing in
sight tells him one thing:
"This place too hot for people like me. Need jungle."
Translated: "They want to cowboy me."
Hey, you... Bhoy! (echoes)
I be packing up my clothes and a leavin' de west,
Where women be plastic and too big in de chest,
Find nest in de jungle with de big tall trees,
Find an ax and a saw so I'se can be free,
These people be crock, they up and down de block,
Dey gots dis bottle called scotch, It wreck my clock,
Dey have sail boats travel up and down de coast,
Dem on them no sailor, all dem do is boast.
Run like deer for de sun, with moon and stars,
Dose people can mix, I get tossed out de bars,
Brew me a bean-pot. I need be home,
Out under de stars where I be free to roam,
And plow me fields, and chase de goats,
'Dey is easy to sell, and dey less dirty den shoats'
(pause)
And dose town-men buy them for stack of coin.
(pause)
(Whispered to himself: "oh, why did I ever leave de mountains?")
"You gonna get cowboyed, Charlie,"
String of shots from an AK-47,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
Mack-Daddy wi' his knife, he want to halal you,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
No good to run, we got you surrounded,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
Bomb can scatter your ass half a click away."
Gonna find me a train headed out the belly of de beast,
The route I's needin' is south and east,
No can find Ganj, and no find root,
Dis food mak' sick like moldy boot.
No plant found here to cure me ills,
And every man a thug, an' he want to kill.
Too high a price for what all I need,
They can have Kali-porn-ya. No want to bleed.
"You gonna get cowboyed, Charlie,"
String of shots from an AK-47,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
Mack-Daddy wi' his knife, he want to halal you,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
No good to run, we got you surrounded,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
Bomb can scatter your ass half a click away."
De train be coming with steel ina yard,
While de sun go down in de smoke so hard,
Messy woman with wi' car, she go too far,
Now I must run, catch de greasy freight car,
Jump inside to find hay all ober de floor,
An' de dung o' de cow is smellin' some more.
It remind me of jungle, where I gonna be,
And de train get to moving an' set me free.
Watch from de door as de moon come up,
Drink water I brought from old tin cup,
A bannana to eat, den time to sleep,
De train is a rollin an I smells some sheep.
Moon about gone when I wake me bones,
And I look to see man. Him name Jones,
He got gun and knife, he a brassy thug,
He blow his nose and he sniff de drug,
Den he cock his gun as I jump out the door,
He spray hot lead as I run some more.
Sun rise high when I find me day,
De grass is greener down Jamaica way.
"You gonna get cowboyed, Charlie,"
String of shots from an AK-47,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
Mack-Daddy wi' his knife, he want to halal you,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
No good to run, we got you surrounded,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
Bomb can scatter your ass half a click away."
Cowboyed, Charlie,
With the sun gone down and the rails shining,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
The ship's in the harbor an' heading southeast,
Cowboyed, Charlie,
De blue mountains be my home.