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The Spirit of Andy Devine

(Bob Ryan)

When I was a kid, Cowboys were everywhere in the movies and on TV. I watched all the Saturday morning cowboy "serials" like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hoppalong Cassidy and the rest. And, while the hero was obviously the guy you were supposed to be rooting for, the truth is that, like most people, I believe, I identified more with the clumsy, comedic sidekick. And Andy was the Quintessential sidekick... let that be known and a hearty AMEN.

This song poured out fully formed as I drove along Barton Road between Loma Linda and Riverside, California. It started with me trying to recall the tune of a Paul Simon song:
'Rene and Georgette Magritte with thier Dog, After the War"

The spirit of Andy Devine hovers over the West,
Where boarded-up boom towns
Grow weak and unsteady with age.
Their windows, like sad eyes,
Still watch for the good times
To come riding in off the range
Like true-hearted cowboys,
And at their side: Andy Devine.

The unbroken heart of the West is a thing of the past.
The matinee good guys and bad guys now look much the same.
The swaggering legends rode into the sunset,
And only the sidekicks remain.
Riding sway-backed old plugs
That had once carried Andy Devine.

Winds moan high in the cottonwoods,
Tumbling Tumbleweeds roll by.
Roy and Gene and the boys
No longer wander this way.

The spirit of Andy Devine hovers over the West.
And old timers swear they can hear,
In the wind on the plain,
A voice like a rusty old wagon wheel,
Caught in a dust cloud of comic distress.
The spirit of Andy Devine hovers over the West.