The Ballad Of Cactus Pete And Lefty - Ray Stevens

This is the ballad of Cactus Pete

He spent his life out in the desert heat

In Arizona and New Mexico

Searchin' for the motherlode

He had no friends, he had no family

Just a pet sidewinder that he called Lefty

They shared a run-down minin' shack

Out with the coyotes and horny toads

Hehehe, yeah just look at I’m all coiled up o’er there

I’ll never forget the first time I saw 'im

He’s just a-sneakin' up on a little toady frog

Settle down, settle down, ain’t no toady frogs, I’m just tellin' 'bout you

sneakin' up on one

He loves them little toady frogs

Lord, I couldn’t live like 'at

You shoulda seen him when I first found him

He had real bad teeth

Yeah, just had two little bicuspids there in front, lord what a gap

Made Leon Sphinx look like Burt Lancaster

Took him to the orthodondist

Yeah, we tried braces, that didn’t last too long

Heck, I got tired of mashin' up them little toady frogs for 'im

So we just had 'em capped

Yeah, he’d have to have 'em filled anyway, they both had big cavities in 'em

Oh, but just look at that smile on 'im over 'ere now, though

Cactus Pete, Cactus Pete

With his pet sidewinder at his feet

Strangest old codger you ever wanna meet

This is the ballad of Lefty and Cactus Pete

Hehehe, yeah me 'n old Lefty, we ain’t got much

I’m poorer 'n a church mouse

Settle down, settle down, ain’t no church mouse

I’m just tellin' 'bout a church mouse

Hehe, he loves a fuzzy little church mouse

Lord, I couldn’t live like 'at

He’s a cold-natured critter

Yeah, I cut the toe out of an old sock one time, made him a little sweater

Didn’t work, though, he just kept crawlin' out of it

He ain’t hardly got no shoulders at all, you know

But lord what a neck

Got more neck than Audrey Hepburn

Cactus Pete, Cactus Pete

With his pet sidewinder at his feet

Out there 'mongst the cacti and mesquite

This is the ballad of Lefty and Cactus Pete

Hehehe, yeah nearly lost ol' Lefty one time, though

He 's out sunnin' himself on that big rock o’er there

Yeah, he’d just gorged down two blue-bellied lizards and a heelee monster

Settle down, settle down, ain’t no heelee monster, I’m jus' talkin' 'bout a

heelee monster

Like I said, he 's on that rock o’er there

And a big ol' bal' headed eagle just swooped down, snatched 'im up

Wen' flappin' off with him through the cactus

Ol' Lefty, he just squirmed around, looked up at that eagle

Flashed him that big ol' pearly-toothed smile…

That eagle dropped him like a hot potato, hehehe

Thought he was a lawyer

Cactus Pete, Cactus Pete

With his pet sidewinder at his feet

The saga of the West wouldn’t be complete

Without the ballad of Cactus Pete

And Lefty

Calm down there, boy, they wasn’t gonna forget ya