Don Edwards' Coyotes

A good song has a way of finding you, in unexpected ways. The way I found the song ‘Coyotes’ by Don Edwards. And, I had never heard of him before.

As someone who sees unhealthy number of films, every day, I cannot be trusted to sit through the end credits, I try though, to be honest. (As one of my teachers said, it is the duty of every viewer to sit throught the end titles, to acknowledge the works behind making a film; you know the names of the actors and the directors, but there are a large number of people, from spot boys to gaffers, who make a movie possible...)

Anyway, the ‘Coyotes’ number found me before the film ended. The film is Werner Herzog’s ‘Grizzly Man.’ We have just seen the last video footage of the subject of documentary, Timothy Treadwell, hours before the bears, whom he loved so absolutely, devoured him and his girlfriend. We see Treadwell leaving the camera with a few coyotes following him, then the camera pans to an ariel view of the forest, and then to a pilot of a helicopter as the song plays in the background.

And how it evokes the passing of time.

See and listen to the song here.

Don Edwards (born March 20, 1939 in Boonton, New Jersey) is a cowboy singer and guitarist who plays Western music. He has recorded several albums, two of which, Guitars & Saddle Songs and Songs of the Cowboy, are included in the Folklore Archives of the Library of Congress. Edwards also recorded the album High Lonesome Cowboy with Peter Rowan and Tony Rice. More here.

The Song:
Coyotes
by Bob McDill, sung by Don Edwards
Album: Best of Don Edwards

Was a cowboy I knew in south Texas,
His face was burnt deep by the sun,
Part history, part sage, part mesquit,
He was there when Poncho Villa was young.

And he'd tell you a tale of the old days,
When the country was wild all around,
Sit out under the stars of the Milky Way,
And listen while the coyotes howl.

And they go... hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoodi hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoo di hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo

Now the long horns are gone,
And the drovers are gone,
The Comanches are gone,
And the outlaws are gone,
Geronimo is gone,
And Sam Bass is gone, Outlaw in the old west,
And the lion is gone,
And the red wolf is gone.

Well he cursed all the roads and the oil men,
And he cursed the automobile,
Said this is no place for an hombre like I am,
In this new world of asphalt and steel.

Then he'd look off some place in the distance,
At something only he could see,
He'd say all that's left now of the old days,
Those damned old coyotes and me.

And they go hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoodi hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoo di hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo

Now the long horns are gone,
And the drovers are gone
The Comanches are gone
And the outlaws are gone,
Now Quantro is gone,
Stan Watie is gone,
And lion is gone,
And the red wolf is gone.

One morning they searched his adobe,
He disappeared without even a word,
But that night as the moon crossed the mountain,
One more coyote was heard.

And he'd go, hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoodi hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoo di hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo

hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoodi hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo
hoo yip hoo yip hoo
hoo di hoo di yip hoo di yip hoo...