There’s a young man that I know
His age is twenty-one
Comes from down in southern Colorado
Just out of the service
And he’s lookin’ for his fun
Someday soon
Goin’ with him, someday soon

My parents can not stand him
‘Cause he rides the rodeo
My father says that he will leave me cryin’
I would follow him right down
The toughest road I know
Someday soon
Goin’ with him, someday soon

And when he comes to call
My Pa ain’t got a good word to say
Guess it’s ’cause he’s just as wild
In the younger days

So blow, you old Blue Northern
Blow my love to me
He’s drivin’ in tonight from California
He loves his damned old rodeo
As much as he loves me
Someday soon
Goin’ with him, someday soon…

I hadn’t heard that old Judy Collins song in years, but it popped up last weekend on a Public Radio variety program I was listening too, and put me in a melancholy mood, because it brought this guy to mind.

Someday soon never came, and he apparently loved the damned old rodeo more than me, and every once in a while—- like last weekend— I do wonder what it would have been like, if it had worked out.

And then I remember that he went back to live with his parents, so I may have been luckier that I thought at the time.