SOME SONGS ARE MOVIES PART VI
Della and the Dealer
Hoyt Axton
It was Della and the Dealer and a dog named Jake
And a cat named Kalamazoo.
Left the city in a pick up truck,
Gonna make some dreams come true.
Yea, they rolled out west where the wild sun sets
And the coyote bays at the moon.
Della and the Dealer and a dog named Jake
and a cat named Kalamazoo
If that cat could talk what tales he’d tell
About Della and the Dealer and the dog
as well
But the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin word.
Down Tucson way there’s a small cafe
Where they play a little cowboy tune.
And the guitar picker was a friend of mine
By the name of Randy Boone.
Yea, Randy played her a sweet love song
And Della got a fire in her eye
The Dealer had a knife and the dog had a gun
and the cat had a shot of Rye.
If that cat could talk what tales he’d tell
About Della and the Dealer and the dog
as well
But the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin word.
Yea, the dealer was a killer,
He was evil and mean
And he was jealous of the fire in her eyes.
He snorted his coke through a century note
And swore that Boone would die.
The stage was set when the lights went out.
There was death in Tucson town.
Two shadows ran for the bar back door
And one stayed on the ground
If that cat could talk what tales he’d tell
About Della and the Dealer and the dog
as well
But the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin word.
Two shadows ran from the bar that night
And dog and cat ran too.
And the tires got hot on the pick up truck
As down the road they flew.
It was Della and her lover and a dog named Jake
And a cat named Kalamazoo.
Left Tucson in a pick-up truck
Gonna make some dreams come true.
If that cat could talk what tales he’d tell
About Della and the Dealer and the dog
as well
But the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin word.
Songwriters: Hoyt Wayne Axton
Della and the Dealer lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Side note: Houk has a family connection to the singer/songwriter of this tune. Hoyt Axton was a friend of Houk’s uncle when the family lived in Jacksonville many years ago. Hoyt threw a flaming smudge pot into the window of his ex-girlfriend’s father’s hardware store and burned the place down. My uncle may or may not have been with him at the time. Hoyt then left town. Years later my uncle was at my grandmother’s house when she came out on the porch and yelled to him, “Hey, that good for nothing friend of yours is on TV. Isn’t that the Axton boy on Bonanza.”