The Ranger's Command
Woodie Guthrie, as recorded by The Hillmen
 
There's a lot about Woodie Guthrie that I don't like, but this is a fine song. And this is a striking piece of archival footage from 1945:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5NJKx8ObDY
That video captures something... an essence... It shows Woodie Guthrie exactly as I've imagined him, but I never expected to see video like that. As for the song, I wouldn't be surprised if at least parts of it had been around a while and Guthrie picked them up along the way...
Come on all you cowboys all over this land
I'll teach you the law of the Ranger's Command
To hold a six shooter, and never to run
As long as there's bullets in both of your guns

I met a fair maiden whose name I don't know
I asked her to the roundup with me would she go
And she said she'd come with me to the cold roundup
And drink that hard liquor from the cold, bitter cup

And we started for the canyon in the fall of the year
Expecting to get there with a herd of fat steer
When the rustlers broke on us in the dead hours of night
She 'rose from her warm bed, a battle to fight

Yes she 'rose from her warm bed with a gun in each hand
Sayin' "come all of you cowboys and fight for your land
Come all of you cowboys and don't ever run
As long as there's bullets in both of your guns"