Mary Martin was a schoolgirl Just seventeen or so When she married Billy Archer About fourteen years ago Not even out of high school Folks said it wouldnt last But when you grow up in the country You grow up mighty fast They married in a hurry In March before school was out Folks said that she was pregnant Just wait and youll find out. It came about that winter One gray November morn The first of many more to come A baby boy was born And cattle is their game And Archer is the name They give to the acres that they own If the Brazos dont run dry And the newborn calves dont die Another year from Mary will have flown Another year from Mary will have flown You might also likeNow Billy kept what cattle His father could afford Bouncing across the cactus In a 1950 Ford The cows were sick and skinny And the weed was all that grew But Billy kept the place alive The only thing he knew And Mary cooked the supper And Mary scrubbed the clothes And Mary busted horses And blew the babys nose And Mary and a shotgun Kept the rattlesnakes away How she kept on smiling No one could ever say Now the drought of 57 Was a curse upon the land No one in Bosque county Could give Bill a helping hand The ground was cracked and broken And the truck was out of gas And cows cant feed on prickly pear Instead of growing grass Well the weather got the water And a snake bite took a child And a fire in the old barn Took the hay that Bill had piled The mortgage got the money And the screw worm got the cows The years have come for Mary Shes waiting for them now
mary, kept, archer, cow, billy