The Occidental Hotel
(Where The Virginian Got His Man)
Come on Boys, an' ride with me
For a Trip back to the Past.
We'll stop at The Occidental,
And step through the Looking Glass.
Here everything's just like it was
In a far, far different Age
When the Occidental wrote the Rules
On hist'rys unwrote Page.
Her very name means "Western"
This fine ol' Grand Hotel.
Where workin' hands, who ride for Brands
Rub elbows with the Swells.
She sits at the foot of the Big Horns
In regal splendor there,
She's the aging Queen o' the Prairies
With Roses in her Hair.
Now priceless Orientals
Still grace the well-worn floors
And Crystal Chandeliers
Still hang above the doors.
There's china in the Dining Room,
And everything's First Class
Where the Present is overshadowed
By reflections of the Past.
The floor still creaks and History reeks
'Til you can hear the Coyotes call,
And the Ghosts of Cattle Barons
Still roam these Hallowed Halls.
Here deals were made as cattle herds
And ranches all changed Hands,
And famous Cowboy Singers
Have played their one-night Stands.
She was lost one night, in a Poker Game
By a man with a Second-best Hand
And her walls are lined with Pictures
Of Men who, they say, had Sand.
Now the little Gal who owns the place
Is a genuine Western Buff,
And to make your stay more Pleasant
She simply can't do Enough.
Many a Trail-worn Drifter
Has Stopped here feelin' Rough,
And when a Cowboy's broke n' Hungry
She'll write it on the Cuff.
Mister Wister holed up here
And dreamed a Master Piece
In an upstairs room by a Fireplace
Where mem'ry still has Lease.
Butch and Sundance slept here, too
Tom Horn got drunk, they say,
An' bragged he'd kill every Cow-thief
That did not ride Away.
It's faraway and Mystical,
In a Place called Cowboy Land -
It's the Occidental Hotel,
Where The Virginian Got His Man.
- Dan Hess ('05)
