Ballad Of Callum Munro

[Ray Brookes]

Just a folky little tale with vocal and acoustic guitar.


I gotta tale to tell; from a long time past
Callum my first name; Munro my last
When the west was wild the country was young
And the law of the land was the law of the gun
I was flat out of money, flat out of luck
Missed every chance that I wished that I'd took

All I knew besides steal and riding freight
Was draw my six-gun, shoot fast and straight
An old saloon in a mining town
Heard the sound of footsteps had a quick look around
Two men staring at me. I began to shake
One young and wild eyed, one mean as a snake

"We hear that you're good with that Colt 45
And yer hungry and busted and barely alive.
It's not many we ask you will understand
But if you're looking for quick money you can ride with our gang"
Then the young one staring said  "I'm not much on names
But this here's Cole Younger and I'm called Jesse James"

 Montana to Colorado across the Great Plains
 Hit the towns and banks hit the mines and trains
As the year went by and the money rolled good
 I never gave a thought to the spilling of the blood
And I'm first to say that I felt no disgrace
When I first saw the wanted poster showing my face

But it's the same old story; you've heard it all before
When you're making big money it's much just wants more
Then the plan hatches in my young head
That before I got much older would see me laying dead
I'd killed many men, dodged bullets and flames
But I never should have double crossed young Jesse James

How cold it was. A cold day to die
How cold it was, that look in his eye
My last thought was what I had done
My last sound I heard was the sound of his gun
So when you've heard my tale and should someone ask yer
Tell 'em I was quick with a gun but Jesse James was faster

[SE]

Yes great western attitude, almost a screenplay to a movie.
Acoustic  and  vocal are excellent, loved the listen!!

[Mike_S]

Any song that name checks Jesse James is almost certainly gonna be good in my mind and this confirms my theory. Great song, telling a great story. Lovely gentle guitar and well delivered Ray.

Mike

[Ron D Bowes]

I love doing Americana/Western themed songs. This is right up my street. Great story, lyrics and that distinctive voice. Great track Ray!

[Blooby]

Love a good story. My niggle would be that a few lines are a tad syllable heavy. Hurts the flow a bit, but certainly not enough to derail the tune.

Nicely recorded as well.

Blooby

[BerryPatch]

Beautiful song Ray. I sense a bit of "Working Class Hero" in that guitar! Great lyricism here, perfectly describes the desolate cowboy life...

[StephenM]

As I was listening and reading the lyrics I thought "oh, this must be a cover, surely it must."  So a quick check at the top showed me that I was wrong and yet again this just proves how damn good you are Ray at writing and delivering these incredible songs.  If I were younger and you also I would hitch my dang wagon to you and ride shotgun and spend my days doing my darndest to see that you reach the stardom that you are.... I guess what I am trying to say is I think you can write a song like this because in a way you have lived this out in real life (and like you are the Jess James).  Not that you were a gunslinger mind you but more like axe handler...lol I could see it now.  Every time some young buck musician shows up and tries to outduel you after they've played their best and sit down and smugly think they've outdone you Ray James pulls out a banjo and blows them away.  If that weren't enough to kill em then it would be a mouth organ, a piano, a bass, a whatever... after the coroner picks up the body off the show floor all the crowd stands applauding, shouting "he had it coming, he should have known better"...
genius songwriting and I am darned fortunate to hear this stuff...

[Farrell Jackson]

A great tale and performance Ray!

[thetworegs]

Couldn't sleep this morning up at 4 and it's still dark outside so I thought I'd listen to a few tracks and Wow! Loving your delivery of an excellent lyric just wow!

[Trist]

That was great. i was really into this song, every word was like turning a page in a book, love the simplicity of the recording and the way you made it dynamic with the pace of the vocals through each verse, it gave it a great energy and urgency but in a subtle way, nice vocal ending too, Nice work Ray