Spoken) Before you right off into the night, my friends, here's a story for the road. It's my own story of the west...The Saga of the Ponderosa.
Behind me lay the stormy sea that I would sail no more,
The love that was so dear to me lay buried on the shore,
And my arms were holding my newborn son,
Reminding me that the past was done,
And the wind I heard, carried a strange-sounding word,
Ponderosa, Ponderosa !
The dusty road ahead of me was callin' like a friend,
My hungry boots were itchin' made to reach the other end,
Where the land was free and the years turned slow
With room for me and my son to grow
And the west winds came, bearing that strange-sounding name,
Ponderosa, Ponderosa !
My Adam was a yearling when we reached the Ole Missouri,
And I labored day and night to buy a wagon and a team,
'Cause my hopes were in a hurry,
But suddenly my heart stopped me flat in my tracks...Like that !
'Twas a woman, gay and pretty, sparkling with joy,
And I wanted her to share my dreams...
Our wedding cake was as light as down,
With a Valentine bride in a frosting gown,
And she was all things beautiful, and a mother to my boy
We started off together, on that February morn,
Through Nebraska down to Kansas,
Through the Spring and Autumn weather
To the edge of Colorado, where my second son was born
Husky, and jolly, and hardly ever cried,
My wife named him Eric...but I called him Hoss
My life was full of happiness, too wonderful to tell,
When, down upon our wagon train, there swarmed a savage hell,
Made of crying arrows and dying men,
And all my sorrows returned again,
And the wind wept through the sky,
Telling my dead Love goodbye,
Ponderosa, Ponderosa !
I took my sons and mothered them, but fear had left its shadow,
It seems they grew the farther on we went in Colorado,
For the land rose up, and it stood on end,
With a crown on top, cold and white,
And the days were made of ridin,' and a-slippin,' and a slidin,'
And my boys wouldn't hide their fright,
I would wake up in the night and hear them crying in their sleep,
And I'd weep...
But they never knew, and somehow,
We got through
From Utah to Nevada, it was easy all the way,
We left behind that shadow, and it faded day by day,
For the sweet winds heralded a laughing tune,
The wagon wheels rumbled, "We'll get there soon,"
And the ground all around, thundered that strange, rolling sound,
Ponderosa, Ponderosa !
Virginia City ! Boomtown ! Brash, Bold town,
Wired, Silver and Gold town,
Where I worked, and I jumbled, and I watched my fortune grow,
Till disaster dealt a hand I couldn't play
Big Joe Collins was a friend, and my life woulda' ended,
But he saved it at a cost of his own,
And his wife was alone, far away from the West,
And I couldn't refuse his last request,
I made the sad and weary trip, and told her how he died,
And from the day I saw her tears, I couldn't leave her side,
And the months flew by, like so many startled birds,
We both seemed to know without uttering the words,
And my friend would have wanted it so,
And I brought her west, and she became lovely as a mother,
So she gave my boys a brother, and we called him Little Joe
Well, it was time to find my land, and to build a dream I'd planned,
So I started off alone, and the wind led on me to a valley rich as Eden,
Where the trees were like a pillar for a temple,
With a wide, blue dome, and, all at once, I knew...
This place was home.
I asked an old trapper what kind of trees they were,
But he went right on draggin' in his line,
Then he raised his ancient head, and I shivered when he said,
We call 'em Ponderosa Pine
And on half a million acres of that strange-sounding name,
I staked my claim
My sons have grown to manhood, as the years have drifted on,
And each of them reminds me of a love that's passed and gone,
But the strength that flows from the earth and the pine,
Warms my heart like a vintage wine,
With a love rich and strong,
For this is where we belong
On the Ponderosa,
Ponderosa,
Ponderosa !
Behind me lay the stormy sea that I would sail no more,
The love that was so dear to me lay buried on the shore,
And my arms were holding my newborn son,
Reminding me that the past was done,
And the wind I heard, carried a strange-sounding word,
Ponderosa, Ponderosa !
The dusty road ahead of me was callin' like a friend,
My hungry boots were itchin' made to reach the other end,
Where the land was free and the years turned slow
With room for me and my son to grow
And the west winds came, bearing that strange-sounding name,
Ponderosa, Ponderosa !
My Adam was a yearling when we reached the Ole Missouri,
And I labored day and night to buy a wagon and a team,
'Cause my hopes were in a hurry,
But suddenly my heart stopped me flat in my tracks...Like that !
'Twas a woman, gay and pretty, sparkling with joy,
And I wanted her to share my dreams...
Our wedding cake was as light as down,
With a Valentine bride in a frosting gown,
And she was all things beautiful, and a mother to my boy
We started off together, on that February morn,
Through Nebraska down to Kansas,
Through the Spring and Autumn weather
To the edge of Colorado, where my second son was born
Husky, and jolly, and hardly ever cried,
My wife named him Eric...but I called him Hoss
My life was full of happiness, too wonderful to tell,
When, down upon our wagon train, there swarmed a savage hell,
Made of crying arrows and dying men,
And all my sorrows returned again,
And the wind wept through the sky,
Telling my dead Love goodbye,
Ponderosa, Ponderosa !
I took my sons and mothered them, but fear had left its shadow,
It seems they grew the farther on we went in Colorado,
For the land rose up, and it stood on end,
With a crown on top, cold and white,
And the days were made of ridin,' and a-slippin,' and a slidin,'
And my boys wouldn't hide their fright,
I would wake up in the night and hear them crying in their sleep,
And I'd weep...
But they never knew, and somehow,
We got through
From Utah to Nevada, it was easy all the way,
We left behind that shadow, and it faded day by day,
For the sweet winds heralded a laughing tune,
The wagon wheels rumbled, "We'll get there soon,"
And the ground all around, thundered that strange, rolling sound,
Ponderosa, Ponderosa !
Virginia City ! Boomtown ! Brash, Bold town,
Wired, Silver and Gold town,
Where I worked, and I jumbled, and I watched my fortune grow,
Till disaster dealt a hand I couldn't play
Big Joe Collins was a friend, and my life woulda' ended,
But he saved it at a cost of his own,
And his wife was alone, far away from the West,
And I couldn't refuse his last request,
I made the sad and weary trip, and told her how he died,
And from the day I saw her tears, I couldn't leave her side,
And the months flew by, like so many startled birds,
We both seemed to know without uttering the words,
And my friend would have wanted it so,
And I brought her west, and she became lovely as a mother,
So she gave my boys a brother, and we called him Little Joe
Well, it was time to find my land, and to build a dream I'd planned,
So I started off alone, and the wind led on me to a valley rich as Eden,
Where the trees were like a pillar for a temple,
With a wide, blue dome, and, all at once, I knew...
This place was home.
I asked an old trapper what kind of trees they were,
But he went right on draggin' in his line,
Then he raised his ancient head, and I shivered when he said,
We call 'em Ponderosa Pine
And on half a million acres of that strange-sounding name,
I staked my claim
My sons have grown to manhood, as the years have drifted on,
And each of them reminds me of a love that's passed and gone,
But the strength that flows from the earth and the pine,
Warms my heart like a vintage wine,
With a love rich and strong,
For this is where we belong
On the Ponderosa,
Ponderosa,
Ponderosa !