FORTY YEAR BARN 1980 - COWTOWN by TEXAS WATER

James Michael Taylor

FORTY YEAR BARN
words by Jacque Shelton and JMT (I wrote the chorus.)

I had a dream as a little boy
Not a policeman, a fireman or even a toy
I picked cotton, I waitered
My sox need darned
But all that I dreamed was my Forty Year Barn

I started out early on my way to the West
I knew a few tricks and I did my best
I earned me some money and it did me no harm
And I saved it all up for my Forty Year Barn

Oh, the cows are all milked and the sheep are all shorn
In the summer they’r cool. In the winter they’re warm
The horses all neigh at the gunea’s alarm
And I know they’re all safe in my Forty Year Barn (x2)

Now that I’m older, I have none to fear
Time to sit back and drink me a beer
I gaze out my window on a warm Summer day
And I smile at the thot, I can hear myself say
“The past is the past, I have nothing to shame
The barn and the windmill are here, just the same
Oh, the ranch needs some work and the plumbing’s forlorne but I am so proud of my Forty Year Barn.”

Oh, the cows are all milked and the sheep are all shorn
In the summer they’r cool. In the winter they’re warm
The horses all neigh at the guano’s alarm
And I know they’re all safe in my Forty Year Barn (x2)

(c) 1990 Royal T Music

About 1980, we moved out near Spring Town. Rented a trailer house on Jacque’s exotic bird farm. This was the year before Silky was born. River was just walking. Jacque gave me this poem. He is gone now. Got killed in a vehicle wreck somewhere between Fort Worth and Spring Town one night. Jacque had earned a small fortune being a sidekick in western movies. Loved birds. House full of birds. House surrounded with caged birds. Golden Pheasants etc. Two ponds with swans etc. Guinea hens and pea cocks wandering the property. Three blue-neck ostriches and a pen of mean rheas..