Ghost Riders In The Sky

AN OLD COWPOKE WENT RIDIN' OUT ONE DARK AND WINDY DAY,

UPON A RIDGE HE RESTED AS HE WENT ALONG HIS WAY.

WHEN ALL AT ONCE A MIGHTY HERD OF RED-EYED COWS HE SAW,

A RUSHIN'' THROUGH THE RAGGED SKIES AND UP A CLOUDY DRAW.

YIPPEE-YI-YA, YIPPEE-YI-YO, GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY.

THEIR BRANDS WERE STILL ON FIRE AND THEIR HOOVES WERE MADE OF STEEL,

THEIR HORNS WERE BLACK AND SHINY AND THEIR HOT BREATH HE COULD FEEL.

A BOLT OF FEAR SHOT THROUGH HIM AS THEY THUNDERED THROUGH THE SKY,

FOR HE SAW THE RIDERS COMIN' HARD, AND HE HEARD THEIR MOURNFUL CRY.

YIPPEE-YI-YA, YIPPEE-YI-YO, GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY.

THEIR FACES GAUNT, THEIR EYES WERE BLURRED, THEIR SHIRTS

ALL SOAKED WITH SWEAT,

THEY'RE RIDING HARD TO CATCH THAT HERD, BUT THEY AIN'T CAUGHT'EM YET.

CAUSE THEY'VE TO RIDE FOREVER ON THAT RANGE UP IN THE SKY,

ON HORSES SNORTING FIRE AS THEY RIDE HARD, HEAR THEM CRY.

YIPPEE-YI-YA, YIPPEE-YI-YO, GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY.

THE COWPOKES RODE ON PASSED HIM AND HE HEARD ONE CALL HIS NAME,

"IF YOU WANT TO SAVE YOUR SOUL FROM HELL A-RIDING ON A RANGE,

THEN COWBOY CHANGE YOUR WAYS TODAY, OR WITH US YOU WILL RIDE,

A-TRYING TO CATCH THIS DEVIL'S HERD, ACROSS THESE ENDLESS SKIES."

YIPPEE-YI-YA, YIPPEE-YI-YO, GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY.

The song is about a cowboy who has a vision of red-eyed, fire-breathing cattle thundering across the sky, being chased by the ghosts of damned cowboys. One warns him that if he does not change his ways he will be doomed to join

them, forever "trying to catch the

Devil's herd across the endless skies."

More than fifty different artists have recorded versions of this classic. Charting versions were recorded by Vaughn Monroe, Bing Crosby, and by Burl Ives. Other versions were recorded by

An impressionable 12 year-old boy rode to the top of an Arizona hill one afternoon with an old cowboy friend to

check a windmill. A big storm was building and they

needed to lock the blades down before the wind hit.

When finished, they paused to watch the clouds

darken and spread across the sky.

As lightning flashed, the old cowboy told the boy to watch closely and he would see the devil's herd. Their eyes red

and hooves flashing, would stampede ahead of phantom horsemen. The old cowboy warned the youth that if he

didn't watch himself, he would someday be up there

with them, chasing steers for all eternity.

The terrified boy jumped on his horse and

took off for the the safety of home.

Years later, he recalled that scary, dark afternoon.

On his 34th birthday, 1948, Stan Jones sat outside

his Death Valley home and wrote

"Ghost Riders In The Sky."