THE BALLAD OF MOUNTAINMAN HUGH GLASS song lyrics
by Joel Sattler

Hugh Glass was a man
born of the Irish stew
who answered a want ad
in 1822

that called for rugged men
an expedition out
Missouri to ascend
to seek new trapping routes

up the old Mizzou
to Laramie and back
the hardship struggle through
and Indian attacks

Dakota on the way
to reach the Yellowstone
Hugh Glass was sore beset
and left to die alone

he drew next to last breath
when he encountered there
he almost met his death
from a grizzly mother bear

she tore him up in blood
she almost took his life
they struggled in the mud
he stabbed her with his knife

and when the fight was won
he lay with broken leg
his friends thought he was done
but still he wouldn't beg

Jim Bridger and John Fitz
said with him they would stay
but the Indians scared their wits
and they both ran away

the boys came back to camp
and told them he had died
perhaps they didn't know
that they themselves had lied

Hugh Glass he wrapped himself
inside the momma's hide
and set himself to crawl
across the Great Divide

he set his leg and took
the way he thought was best
put maggots on his back
to eat the rotting flesh

and then he swore to kill
the men who'd left him there
and dragged himself along
and swore the cursed pair

would meet his vengeance when
he'd find them once again
and they'd regret they day
they abandoned him a friend

six weeks it took Hugh Glass
Fort Kiowa to reach
he rolled off of his raft
and lay there on the beech

the soldiers were amazed
to find him still alive
the only choice he had
was simply to survive

for months recovering
the pieces of his life
and swore that he'd take back
his stolen rifle and his knife

revenge a sweeter cup
a story red and old
it's best to drink it up
while it is bitter cold

Hugh Glass caught Bridger first
near Big Horn River there
he could have done his worst
but his life decide to spare

Fitzgerald was a soldier
so Hugh Glass he waited yet
so neither man did pay
the ferryman with death

for ten more years he lived
fur trapping for he died
by vicious Indian hand
Arikaree died

but still his legend lives
his trail will never end
the greatest of them all
of all the mountain men


=====================