OSTX: Prairie Town | by David Blake Terrell

A song about one's place. Used with permission of David Blake Terrell, artist and song writer. “Prairie Town”, David Blake Terrell 01/21/18 [VERSE 1] If you’da headed west out of Fort Worth And took the trail to Buffalo Gap It’a blown your mind when you set your eyes On an ocean of native grass It was before the rail & the land run Before the west really had begun You were closer to hell than you were a well left to die from thirst or Comanches one [VERSE 2] They might think we lost our minds Why would anyone settle here It’s a frying pan filled with dust and sand That’s why it’s the last frontier From a bunk house down on the Waggoner To the few living in Mentone from the town of Gail, on up to Quail They all call the prairie home [CHORUS] I’ve seen it all in Seymour I worked the patch in Balmorhea It’ll cross your mind, East Texas Pines Sound like the place to stay But of all the little towns in West Texas You can’t understand just how How they ride it out through the dust & drought Till you live in a prairie town [VERSE 3] This land can turn into fire And just spare a few head of cows They won’t see disaster relief Help comes to votes that count You ought to see the sunset in Canyon And the little band there in Rotan These folks they pray for the smell of rain They harvest faith in this heartland [CHORUS] There’s just 45 in Needmore Just a few still live in Chalk And if it ain’t clear that Austin’s weird You won’t find Marfa odd But of all the little towns in West Texas That no one ever hears about When luck runs out you do without When you live in a Prairie town [VERSE 4] When they came out here on the wagons Were they doomed before they arrived I Is it just the grassland or Cynthia Ann That cursed who occupied But you trade those cold blue northerns to see the deer and the antelope play to see the morning clear through your horses ears You thank God for life on the range [CHORUS] Well a cowcamp started Farwell There ain’t much left at Quitaque We hear that song ‘bout Luckenback Where nobody’s feeling pain But of all the little towns in West Texas That time forgot about It’s a rural route what the west is now when you live in a prairie town Yeah we do without but we’re dang proud That we live in a prairie town