Lyrics to
Spanish Johnny

This version of Spanish Johnny was released by Emmylou Harris in 1981.

Our Emmylou Harris Songs profile has Spanish Johnny lyrics from 1981 and most if not all of the lyrics by Emmylou Harris that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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Those other years, the dusty years
We drove the big hers through
I tried to forget the miles we rode
And Spanish Johnny too
He’d sit beside a water ditch when all this herd was in
And he’d never harm a child but sing to his mandolin

The old talk, the old ways, and the dealin’ of our game
But Spanish Johnny never spoke, but sing a song of Spain
And his talk with men was vicious talk
When he was drunk on gin
Ah, but those were golden things he said to his mandolin

We had to stand, we tried to judge, we had to stop him then
For the hand so gentle to a child had killed so many men
He died a hard death long ago before the road come in
And the night before he swung he sung to his mandolin

Well, we carried him out in the mornin’ sun
A man that done no good
And we lowered him down in the cold clay
Stuck in a cross of wood
And a letter we wrote to his kinfolk
To tell them where he’d been
And we shipped it out to Mexico, along with his mandolin

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Emmylou Harris has released many songs over the years besides Spanish Johnny. Emmylou Harris released songs from 1969 to 2003 spanning across albums like Gliding Bird, Elite Hotel, Pieces Of The Sky, Luxury Liner, Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town, Light Of The Stable, Blue Kentucky Girl, Roses In The Snow, Cimarron, Evangeline, Last Date, White Shoes, The Ballad Of Sally Rose, Thirteen, Angel Band, Trio, Bluebird, Duets, Brand New Dance, At The Ryman, Cowgirl's Prayer, Wrecking Ball, Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, Trio II, Red Dirt Girl, and Stumble Into Grace. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Emmylou Harris.

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