Roll with the Tumbleweeds: Lyrics and the Story Behind the Song
Although I describe this song as a song about a drifter in the Dakota Badlands, it's really about me. I'm the drifter. The "chestnut mare and a wooden cart" is my minivan. I've cast myself as a character in a Western to tell my tale.
I wrote "Roll with the Tumbleweeds" during my first year back in Worcester, Massachusetts, after having lived away for many years. I am drawn to songs about life in the old West and cowboys. So, when I wrote a song about my own life and experiences, I framed it in the form of a Western. There were some painful events that had happened that year and my life had changed in a big way. Leaving my life in New Hampshire behind and moving from place to place was a feeling that I tried to deal with through writing this song.
Song Lyrics
Chorus
I’m gonna roll with the tumbleweeds across this prairie,
Rock in the saddle ’neath a hazy, harvest moon,
Reel in a dust storm with a cloth pulled ’cross my face,
Rest with the horses beside a rushing stream.
Come and sit by the fire and warm your dusty hands.
Where ya from? Oh, just north of here in the Badlands.
There are slopes there so rugged and so tall,
And, the sagebrush flowers in the early fall.
Sometimes, the northern lights set the evening sky ablaze.
Have you ever seen those brilliant blue-green rays?
When they flicker like a flame. Never look the same.
Never to be claimed.
Chorus
I’m gonna roll with the tumbleweeds across this prairie,
Rock in the saddle ’neath a hazy, harvest moon,
Reel in a dust storm with a cloth pulled ’cross my face,
Rest with the horses beside a rushing stream.
Once, I let a lasso capture my wild, wild heart.
Then, I traded it in for a chestnut mare and a wooden cart.
Left my love for the open range. Finally, made a change.
Isn’t love strange?
Chorus
I’m gonna roll with the tumbleweeds across this prairie,
Rock in the saddle ’neath a hazy, harvest moon,
Reel in a dust storm with a cloth pulled ’cross my face,
Rest with the horses beside a rushing stream.
Song Credits
Holly Hanson: vocals
Steve Hayes: acoustic guitar, Nashville-tuned guitar, electric guitar, electric bass
Zeke Martin: percussion
Written by Holly Hanson. © 2011 Wild Braid Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Roll with the Tumbleweeds appears on the album Strawberry Moon by Neptune's Car.