The Ballad of Edward Abbey

By: Tom Russell

Edward Abbey in 1987, two years before his death. “I want my body to help fertilize the growth of a cactus or cliff rose or sagebrush or tree,” he’d written. (Photo: LA Times/Getty)

It was in the town of Tucson in Nineteen Eighty-Three
A man named Edward Abbey come a walking up to me
He pulled his cigar from his mouth, said, "I smell lawyers here"
The politician, running-dogs, they crawled away in fear

Ed walked across the desert at least a thousand times
He spoke with javelina, slept 'neath piñon pine
And if he saw a billboard there, he'd chop that bastard down
Said, if a man can't piss in his own front yard, he'd never keep close to town

Singing do-ra-do
Singing do-ra-day
Lord, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today

Ed had a taste for women, in fact he married quite a few
He said, "I'd fall in love, boys, but I'm only passing through
You know I like 'em all, boys, and some more than the rest
I've tried my hand at monogamy, now I'm off to save the west

Ed died one day at sundown in his Tucson riding shack
They wrapped him in a sleeping bag and drove him way out back
Beneath the wild saguaro, the coyotes chewed his bones
And on a hidden marker, was 'No Comment', carved in stone

Singing do-ra-do
Singing do-ra-day
Yeah, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today

Now I'm living in the desert, but the town is a-closing in
Those cracker box developments, Ed would call a sin
We stole this land from the Mexican and now we'll sell it back
And they'll live like mortgage prisoners in those goddamn housing tracts

Tell me, who votes for the mountain lion, tell me, who votes for the fox
Who votes for the spotted owl who hides there in the rocks
I wish that Ed would come again with a chainsaw in his hand
And carve all up those housing tracts and take on back the land

Singing do-ra-do
Singing do-ra-day
Yeah, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today

---

You can find Tom Russell’s “The Ballad of Edward Abbey” on his 2004 album “Indians, Cowboys, Horses, Dogs.” You can watch him perform it live here.

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