Phil Ochs – Ballad Of Alferd Packer (Guitar)

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In the state of Colorado

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In the year of seventy-four

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They crossed the San Juan Mountains

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Growing hungry to the core.

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Their guide was Alferd Packer

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And they trusted him too long,

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For his character was weak

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And his appetite was strong.

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They called him a murderer, a cannibal, a thief,

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It just doesn't pay to eat anything but Government-inspected beef.

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Along the Gunnison River

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An Indian camp they spied.

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An Indian chief approached them,

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To stop them he did try.

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He warned them of the danger

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In the snow that lay around,

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But the danger was in Packer,

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For his hunger knew now bound.

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They called him a murderer, a cannibal, a thief,

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It just doesn't pay to eat anything but Government-inspected beef.

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Two cold months went slowly by,

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Packer came back alone.

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"My comrades they all froze to death,

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I'm starving, " he did moan.

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The Indian chief knew how he lied,

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He spat upon the ground,

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For his belly hung out all over his belt,

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He'd gained some thirty pounds.

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They called him a murderer, a cannibal, a thief,

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It just doesn't pay to eat anything but Government-inspected beef.

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Well for nine long years he ran away

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But finally he was tried.

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He claimed he didn't kill them,

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He only ate their hide.

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That County had six dem-o-crats

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Until he did arrived.

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Well only one lives on today,

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He ate the other five.

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They called him a murderer, a cannibal, a thief,

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It just doesn't pay to eat anything but Government-inspected beef.

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Eighteen years he stayed in jail,

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It was a dreadful fate,

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For he suffered indigestion

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Every time he ate.

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Still, it's hard to blame this hungry guy

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Who went searchin' for the mines,

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For when he ate his friends

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He'd never heard of Duncan Hines.

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For when he ate his friends

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He'd never heard of Duncan Hines.