Ed Bruce

Here are the lyrics and chords to the iconic song written by our esteemed cousin, Ed Bruce (& his wife Patsy, then popularized by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson).

[CHORUS]:      D                                                          G

Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys

A

Don’t let them pick guitars and drive them old trucks

D

Make ‘em be doctors and lawyers and such

G

Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys

A

They’ll never stay home and they’re always alone

D

Even with someone they love

[VERSE 1]:      D                                                   G

A cowboy ain’t easy to love and he’s harder to hold

A                                                                                D

And it means more to him to give you a song than silver or gold

G

Budweiser buckles and soft faded Levi’s and each night begins a new day

A

If you can’t understand him and he don’t die young

D

He’ll probably just ride away

[CHORUS]:     

[VERSE 2 (A tone higher)]:        E                                     A

Cowboys like smokey ol’ pool rooms and clear mountain mornings

B                                                                                        E

Little warm puppies and children and girls of the night

E

Them that don’t know him won’t like him

A

And them that do sometimes won’t know how to take him

B

He ain’t wrong, he’s just different but his pride won’t let him

E

Do things that make you think he’s right

[CHORUS 2x]:

************************************************************

In our family, the story goes that Grandma Bruce -my father’s mother’s mother- used to say “Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys,” and that was the inspiration for the song.

Here is another telling of the song’s origin I found online, FWIW.

And here is our favorite recording of the song, by Ed Bruce himself (no surprise):

 
More to come on this front, especially as my brother and I have now started our own band, woot!