Cool Water

Mono Monday: Water

"All day I’ve faced a barren waste 
Without the taste of water, cool water.
Old Dan and I with throats burnt dry
And souls that cry for water,
Cool, clear water.
 
Keep a-movin’, Dan, don’t you listen to him, Dan,
He’s a devil not a man
And he spreads the burning sand with water,
Cool water.
Dan, can you see that big green tree
Where the water’s running free
And it’s waiting there for me
And you?
 
The nights are cool and I’m a fool,
Each star’s a pool of water, cool water.
But with the dawn I’ll wake and yawn
And carry on to water,
Cool, clear water.
 
Keep a-movin’, Dan, don’t you listen to him, Dan,
He’s a devil not a man
And he spreads the burning sand with water,
Cool water.
Dan, can you see that big green tree
Where the water’s running free
And it’s waiting there for me
And you?
 
The shadows sway and seem to say,
“Tonight we pray for water,
Cool water.”
And ‘way up there He’ll hear our pray’r
And show us where there’s water,
Cool, clear water.
 
Keep a-movin’, Dan, don’t you listen to him, Dan,
He’s a devil not a man
And he spreads the burning sand with water,
Cool water.
Dan, can you see that big green tree
Where the water’s running free
And it’s waiting there for me
And you?
 
Dan’s feet are sore, he’s yearning for
Just one thing more than water,
Cool water.
Like me, I guess, he’d like to rest
Where there’s no quest for water,
Cool, clear water.
 
Keep a-movin’, Dan, don’t you listen to him, Dan,
He’s a devil not a man
And he spreads the burning sand with water,
Cool water.
Dan, can you see that big green tree
Where the water’s running free
And it’s waiting there for me
And you?"

Bob Nolan ~ Cool Water

Dad loves this song - along with Ghost Riders in the Sky and most of Hank Williams output.  He's always enjoyed that early 1940s /50s country and western stuff.  The song was originally written by Bob Nolan in 1936, the linked recording by Bob's band The Sons of the Pioneers dates back to 1947 and harks back to a different age.  It is an age that in some ways seems simpler and more innocent though the perspective of history.  But of course, when we look at the detail we soon realise that it wasn't.  

How we loved the myth of the Wild West back then, when the likes of Roy Rodgers and Alan Ladd were around to save the innocent and punish wrong doers.  You knew that the good guys wore the white stetson hats and the bad guys wore the dark ones.