South Dakota Songtext
von James McMurtry

It was the 23rd of May and I heard the sergeant say,
"Fuck it, round up the usual suspects and call it a day
We′ve got no time to mess around
And I'm not dying in this shit hole town for a soldier′s pay"

It was too good to be true, but my discharge came through
And I was on the first bird out that I could find
Rode that C-17 into Stuttgart
Fall roundup on my mind

When my brothers picked me up
We got way deep in our cups
We must've tore old Rapid city down
My big brother Jack said "Boy it's good to see you back
What you gonna do now, what you gonna do now?"

Because there ain′t much between the Pole and South Dakota
And barbed wire won′t stop the wind
You won't get nothing here but broke and older
If I was you I might re-up again


Well, we had good rain this year
Dad fed in some charolais steers
Got them way cheap out of Texas
Because of the drouth
We put them out on oats
They hadn′t yet grown their winter coats away down south

It was barely even fall
But that blizzard got them all
Left them sprawled across the pasture Stiff as boards
You take a sharp knife in your hand
Skin them out while you still can
And curse the lord
Curse the lord

These old hides are not worth much
So we'll pitch them off the truck
Pile them up by the horse trough in the lot
Because they sell by the pound
They weigh like lead if you wet them down
And they′re all we got

With a gas lease or two we might've just made due
But there′s nothing under this ground worth a dime
Now the sheriff's on his way and it's damn sure not our day
It′s just our time