About The Song
“The Strawberry Roan” is a traditional western folk song that Marty Robbins recorded and released in 1960 on his album More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs. Issued by Columbia Records, the album continued Robbins’s highly successful series of western narrative recordings and further solidified his reputation as the leading interpreter of cowboy-themed storytelling in country music. The song was presented as an album track rather than a commercial single.
The origins of “The Strawberry Roan” predate Robbins by many decades. The song is rooted in American cowboy folklore and was already well known in western and folk circles long before Robbins recorded it. Often attributed to oral tradition, the ballad describes a notoriously unrideable horse and the cowboy who attempts to master it. Robbins’s decision to include the song reflected his broader aim of preserving and popularizing classic western material alongside his original compositions.
Lyrically, the song centers on a powerful and unpredictable horse known as the Strawberry Roan. The narrator recounts the animal’s size, strength, and reputation for throwing riders, then describes a challenge to ride the horse despite its dangerous nature. The lyric is descriptive rather than dramatic, emphasizing physical detail and experience over emotion. The story concludes without triumph, reinforcing the idea that some forces of nature remain beyond human control.
Musically, Robbins’s version follows a traditional western ballad structure. Acoustic guitar forms the backbone of the arrangement, supported by light rhythm and minimal instrumental embellishment. The tempo is steady and unhurried, allowing the descriptive lyric to unfold clearly. The restrained arrangement aligns with Robbins’s approach on his gunfighter albums, where atmosphere and narrative clarity were prioritized.
Marty Robbins delivers the song with a calm, storyteller’s cadence. His vocal performance is measured and authoritative, avoiding exaggerated drama. This approach suits the song’s folkloric nature and reinforces its sense of authenticity, as if the tale is being passed down rather than performed for spectacle.
Although “The Strawberry Roan” did not chart as a single, it became widely known through the success of More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, which sold strongly and remained influential for years. The album helped introduce traditional western songs to a mainstream audience that might not otherwise have encountered them.
In retrospect, “The Strawberry Roan” is valued as an example of Marty Robbins’s role as a musical preservationist. Alongside his original gunfighter narratives, the song demonstrates his respect for cowboy folklore and his ability to present traditional material with clarity and restraint. It remains a respected deep cut in his catalog and continues to appear on reissues and compilations devoted to his western recordings.
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Lyric
I was hangin’ ’round town, just spendin’ my time
Out of a job, not earnin’ a dime
A feller steps up and he said, “I suppose
You’re a bronc fighter from looks of your clothes”
“you figures me right, I’m a good one” I claim
“do you happen to have any bad ones to tame?”
Said “he’s got one, a bad one to buck
At throwin’ good riders, he’s had lots of luck”
I gets all het up and I ask what he pays
To ride this old nag for a couple of days
He offered me ten; I said, “I’m your man
A bronc never lived that I couldn’t span”
He said: “get your saddle, I’ll give you a chance”
In his buckboard we hopped and he drives to the ranch
I stayed ’til mornin’ and right after chuck
I stepped out to see if this outlaw can buck
Down in the horse corral standin’ alone
Is an old caballo, a strawberry roan
His legs are all spavined, he’s got pigeon toes
Little pig eyes and a big roman nose
Little pin ears that touched at the tip
A big 44 brand was on his left hip
U-necked and old, with a long, lower jaw
I could see with one eye, he’s a regular outlaw
I gets the blinds on ‘im and it sure is a fright
Next comes the saddle and I screws it down tight
Then I steps on ‘im and I raises the blinds
Get outta the way boys, he’s gonna unwind
He sure is a frog-walker, he heaves a big sigh
He only lacks wings, for to be on the fly
He turns his old belly right up to the sun
He sure is a sun-fishin’, son-of-a-gun
He’s about the worst bucker I’ve seen on the range
He’ll turn on a nickel and give you some change
He hits on all fours and goes up on high
Leaves me a spinnin’ up there in the sky
I turns over twice and I comes back to earth
I lights in a cussin’ the day of his birth
I know there are ponies that I cannot ride
There’s some of them left, they haven’t all died
I’ll bet all my money, the man ain’t alive
That’ll stay with old strawberry
When he makes his high dive