DON'T FENCE ME IN
(learned from hearing Bing Crosby radio broadcasts and records in the early 1940s;-written by Cole Porter based on an earlier song by Robert Fletcher)
Oh, give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above,
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)
Don't fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the country that I love,
Don't fence me in.
I want to be by myself in the evening breeze,
Listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever but I ask you, please,
Don't fence me in.
Just turn me loose, let me straddle my own saddle underneath the western skies;
On my cayuse let me wander over yonder 'til I see the mountains rise;
I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences,
Gaze at the moon until I lose my senses,
Can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences,
Don't fence me in.