arranged and adapted by Arlo Guthrie      So you ask me my kind friend   Why I am sad and still   And why my brow is darkened   Like the clouds upon the hill      Rein in your ponies closer   And I'll tell you all a tale   Of Utah Carroll, partner   And his last ride on the trail      In a grave without a headstone   Without a date or name   My partner lies there silent   In the land from which I came      Long ago we rode together   We'd ridden side by side   I loved him like a brother   And I wept when Utah died      While riding up one morning   And our work was almost done   The cattle quickly started   On a wild and maddening run      The boss's little daughter   Who was riding on that side   Rushed in to stop the stampede   It was there my partner died      Lenore upon her pony   Tried to turn the cattle right   But her blanket slipped beneath her   And she caught and held on tight      When we all saw that red blanket   Each cowboy held his breath   For should her pony fail her   None could save the girl from death      When the cattle saw the blanket   Almost dragging on the ground   They were maddened in a moment   And they charged with deafening sound      The girl soon saw her danger   And she turned her pony's face   And bending in her saddle   Tried the blanket to replace      Just then she lost her balance   In the front of that wild tide   Carroll's voice controlled the round up   "Lie still, Lenore" he cried      And then close up beside her   Came Utah riding fast   But little did the poor boy know   The ride would be his last      Full often from the saddle   He had caught the trailing rope   To pick her up at full speed   Was now his only hope      He swung low from his saddle   To take her to his arm   We thought that he'd succeeded   That the girl was safe from harm      But such a strain upon his saddle   Had ne'er been put before   And the cinches gave beneath him   And he fell beside Lenore      When the girl fell from her saddle   She had dragged the blanket down   It lay there close beside them   Where they lay upon the ground      Utah took the blanket   And to Lenore he said   "Lie still" and quickly running   Waved the red thing o'er his head      He turned the maddened cattle   From Lenore, his little friend   And as the mighty herd rushed toward him   He turned to met his end      And as the herd came on him   His weapon quickly drew   He was bound to die defended   As all brave cowboys do      The weapon flashed like lightning   And it sounded loud and clear   As the cattle rushed and killed him   He dropped the leading steer      When I broke through that wide circle   To where poor Utah lay   With a thousand wounds and bruises   His life blood ebbed away      I knelt down close beside him   And I knew that all was o'er   As I heard him faintly whisper   "Good-bye, my sweet Lenore"      Next morning at the churchyard   I heard the preacher say   "Don't think our kind friend Utah   Was lost on that great day      He was a much-loved cowboy   And not afraid to die   And we'll meet him at the round up   On the plains beyond the sky"      So you ask me my kind friend   Why I am sad and still   And why my brow is darkened   Like the clouds upon the hill      Rein in your ponies closer   And I'll tell you all a tale   Of Utah Carroll, partner   And his last ride on the trail