All over the world, every government in the world is trying to smash the past and nature as much as they can. And the American government is, of course, leading the way. And in America we have some wild dogs like wolves called coyotes that only exist in North America and they are very bad to the government because they eat baby sheep and baby cows sometimes, you know. So the government killed five million of them since 1915 and they killed them with special exploding bullets, flame throwers, and traps, and poison, and of course guns. And I don't like the American government that much and I really like coyotes a lot. And here's a song I wrote about their situation it's called "Coyote."
Long time before white people came
Coyote roamed on the western range
Living side by side
With the animals and Indian tribes
Brother to the sun and the wind
They all knew him as their friend
Coyote, ghost of the desert
Coyote, mugwump of the plains
Say, coyote lived in the western days
Riding those hills through the rocks and sage
Sleepin each night by the light of the moon
Listen here, listen to Coyote's tune
Coyote, Coyote
Oh listen, listen, to Coyote's tune
Some people that Coyote was bad
He took what the white man had
He took the sheep and the cattle too
Did more bad than one man can do
Coyote's gone from the range today
Settlers came and drove him away
Coyote, ghost of the desert
Coyote, mugwump of the plains
Say, coyote lived in the western days
Riding those hills through the rocks and sage
Sleepin each night by the light of the moon
Listen here, listen to Coyote's tune
Coyote, Coyote
Oh listen, listen, to Coyote's tune
Now if any of you people would like to express your sympathy or your kinship with coyotes and wild things by howling a little bit right now just go right ahead.
(Crowd howling)
In 1850, government men
Chased Coyote all over the land
They hunted him by night and day
They killed Coyote so they say
But some nights when the moon is full
You can see him come a-riding on over the hills
Coyote, ghost of the desert
Coyote, mugwump of the plains
Say, coyote lived in the western days
Riding those hills through the rocks and sage
Sleepin each night by the light of the moon
Oh listen, won't you listen to Coyote's tune
Coyote, Coyote
Oh listen, listen, to Coyote's tune
Coyote - Live was written by Country Joe McDonald.
Country Joe McDonald released Coyote - Live on Thu Jan 01 1981.