County code in tune with West
Alamosa board treated to a song
Sonia Kaur
Published June 30, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Roy Fred Hargrove
There's nothing like a country song to lighten up a government meeting.
That's what the Alamosa County Commissioners discovered when land use chief Ken Vaniwarden played a song titled Code of the West from a CD recorded by a local musician.
The commissioners were meeting to go over a county brochure titled, appropriately, "Code of the West." It's meant to inform newcomers about the rules and services of Alamosa County government.
"It was a really cool song," said Land Use Administrator Ken Vaniwarden. "I presented the song to the county commissioners as a kind of joke, a laughter kind of deal."
The song is included on a CD called Cowpoke Folk recorded by Roy Fred Hargrove, of Monte Vista.
Hargrove gave the CD to Vaniwarden after he read an article in the local newspaper about the county's "Code of the West."
Hargrove wrote the song in 2000, when he was living in Taos, N.M., to remind people of how they should be treating each other and to keep the unwritten rules of the Old West alive.
"It has been a true observation of mine that a lot of people now moving to the western U.S. were never raised by these guidelines. It's apparent in their conduct, lack of values, honesty and manners," Hargrove said.
"Basically, the song tells how the code of the West has these rules . . . it talks about what do you expect in the West."
Living in harmony
Roy Fred Hargrove's Code of the West
* First verse:
High in the Rockies, lived a Mountain Man, trappin' furs, was his trade.
With Winter settin' in, blood brother to the Indians, livin' with them, he was not afraid.
They hunted side by side, trusted each other to survive, they all stayed alive.
But then down through the years, there came a trail of tears, and he stood by them through their grief and strife.
* Chorus:
But where has he gone,
he's been gone too long,
but he's gone like the rest,
and he left, with the Code of the West.
Yes he's gone, like the Code of the West.
* Second verse:
A long time ago, out in New Mexico, a man rode 'cross his land.
Rode hard every day, checkin' for his strays, well he was a hell of a hand.
Honest and tough, he didn't know how to bluff, 'cause he was a man of his word.
And he always told the truth, he loved his young wife Ruth, of generations he was the third.
* Repeat chorus
* Third verse:
Today bankers and lawyers, say sign these papers, but they don't even ask please.
They file their lawsuits, and serve their foreclosures, makin' people get down on their knees.
In modern day Denver, a man skips dinner, instead puts a gun to his head.
Had nowhere left to turn, he thought they'd never learn, and now, he's layin dead!
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