Sam Eskin / Richard Dehr / Lillian Boss Ross / Frank Miller

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Song Specific Liner Notes

Covers by other artists

Song lyrics or txt file with CHORDS

As has been discussed here, the song "South Coast," which is credited to Lillian Bos Ross, Sam Eskin & Rich Dehr, was originally a poem by Ms. Ross (Eskin is credited with the melody; Dehr's contribution is unclear). I finally tracked down a copy of the poem. It appears in a book titled "Recipes for Living in Big Sur," published by the Big Sur Historical Society. The poem follows. If anyone can provide the lyrics as sung by The Easy Riders, whose recording preceded the KT's, I'd appreciate it. Pete Curry :

My name is Lonjano de Castro
My father was a Spanish grandee;
But I won my wife in a card game
To hell with the lords o'er the sea.

In my youth I had a Monterey homestead,
Creeks, valley, and mountains all mine;
I built me a snug little shanty
And roofed it and floored it with pine.

I had a bronco, a buckskin­
Like a bird he flew over the trail,
When I rode him out forty miles every Friday
To get me some grub and the mail.

Chorus:
But the south Coast is a wild coast and lonely­
You might win in a game at Jolon,
But the lion still rules the barranca
And a man there is always alone.

I sat in a card game at Jolon;
I played with a man there named Juan.
And after I'd won all his money
He said, "Your homestead 'gainst my daughter, Dawn."

I turned up the ace, I had won her!
My heart which was down at my feet
Jumped up to my throat in a hurry;
Like a young summer field she was sweet.

He opened the door to the kitchen;
He called the girl with a curse;
"Take her, God damn her, you won her!
She's yours now for better or worse."

Her arms had to tighten around me
As we rode up the hills from the south.
But no word did I get from her that day
Nor a kiss from her pretty red mouth.

We got to my cabin at twilight
The stars twinkled over the coast.
She soon loved the orchard, the valley
But I knew she loved me the most.

That was a glad happy winter;
I carved on a cradle of pine.
By a fire in that snug little shanty
I sang with that gay wife of mine.

But then I got hurt in a landslide
Crushed hip and twice-broken bone;
She saddled up Buck just like lightning
And rode out through the night to Jolon.

A lion screamed in the barranca;
Buck bolted and fell on a slide.
My young wife lay dead in the moonlight;
My heart died that night with my bride.

They buried her out in the orchard.
They carried me out to Jolon.
I lost my Chiquita, my nino;
I'm an old broken man, all alone.

The cabin still stands on the hillside,
Its doors open wide to the rain;
But the cradle and my heart are empty,
And I never can go there again.

Oh, the south Coast is a wild coast and lonely.
You might win in a game at Jolon.
But the lion still rules the barranca
And a man there is always alone.

--Lillian Bos Ross

Kather Lee, has sung and recorded for more than 50 years and is acknowledged as one of the great singers and documentarians of cowboy songs and songwriters in America. She headlines cowboy poetry gatherings in Tucson and Prescott, Elko, and Ruidoso. She has a repertoire of over 300 cowboy poems, many of which she has set to music.

--Lucia C. Greer, Chia & Associates

-- http://www.casa-chia.org/Sam/part2.html

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Where is Jolon?

My name is Juan Hanno de Castro. My father was a Spanish grandee.
But I won my wife in a card game. To hell with the lords o'er the sea.
I picked up the ace. I had won her. My heart which was down at my feet
Jumped up to my throat in a hurry, like a warm summer's day she was sweet.

Chorus

Her arms had to tighten around me as we rode up the hills from the South.
Not a word did I hear from her that day or a kiss from her pretty red mouth.
We came to my cabin at twilight. The stars twinkled out on the coast.
She soon loved the valley, the orchard, but I knew that she loved me the most.

Chorus

Then I got hurt in a landslide with crushed hip and twice broken bone.
She saddled our pony like lightning. Rode off in the night all alone.
The lion screamed in the barranca. The pony fell back on the slide.
My young wife lay dead in the moonlight. My heart died that night with my bride.

Chorus

Last revised: March 30, 2006.