Story Behind The Song

Song about struggles with the cattle industry and how the cycle always continues.

Song Description

Generations of hard work through with pride, dignity through good times or bad

Lyrics

Title: Old Rope of Mine
Copyright 2025 Frederick M. Spina
Genre: Alt Country, Male artist (Cody Johnson)
Core Theme: Generations of hard work with pride/ dignity- through good times or bad

Verse 1
Grew up on Dad's early morning, let's go boy, sun's rising
Counting fence posts and learning cattle shapes and sizes
Wearing worn boots and patched wranglers just to save a dollar,
Learned to deal with the hard times that make you wanna holler.

Verse 2
When I got my first saddle with a blanket, and a stiff new rope-
Had to learn how to heel a calf and pull a steer from the mud.
Can't think of a time when this old rope of mine-
Didn't prove to me that ranching's in my blood

Pre Chorus
Feels like life's got a way of pulling on this rope of mine

Chorus
Through the droughts, the downpours, the lean years, and the grind,
When the feed bills keep rising, and the cattle don't fetch a dime,
I still pull what I can with what the good Lord put inside
My faith, my will, and this old rope of mine.

Verse 3
Sittin' in a bar drinking a beer, looking for help riding the line
These weathered hands' prove this life ain't no nine-to-five
Prayin' for a few good men to help keep the ranch alive
Like my daddy and his daddy it's a fight to survive.

Pre Chorus
Feel's like life's got a way of pulling on this rope of mine
Chorus
Through the droughts, the downpours, the lean years, and the grind,
When the feed bills keep rising, and the cattle don't fetch a dime,
I still pull what I can with what the good Lord put inside
My faith, my will, and this old rope of mine.
My faith, my will, and this old rope of mine.
Bridge
Dad told me, the markets change like the wind,
And the weather, well she'll test you time and again.
So, hold steady, like your world rides on the end of your rope
'Cause sometimes she shows mercy
And sometimes she won't.
Chorus
Through the droughts, the downpours, the lean years, and the grind,
When the feed bills keep rising, and the cattle don't fetch a dime,
I still pull what I can with what the good Lord put inside
My faith, my will, and this old rope of mine.

Outro
I still pull what I can with what the good Lord put inside
My faith, my will, and this old rope of mine.