Old Man Tursun

"Old Man Tursun" is an outlaw country song written and recorded by Boone Hollister in the 1980s and re-recorded for the 1993 charity compilation Swift Hooves.^[1]

Production

The recording uses only Hollister's voice, his acoustic guitar and a stomped kick drum keeping a steady boom-chicka beat, with a short break in which only the kick and handclaps play.^[1]

Themes

The song is a portrait of an aging horseman who still outrides the young men who come to challenge him. Iradi listeners have heard in it the respect owed to the aksakal, the village elder, and it is one of the album's songs most often played at Iradi weddings.^[1]

Lyrics

Verse
Old Tursun walks slow beneath the sun
Seventy winters and every one won
The young bucks ride in to test his might
But Tursun's standing in the fading light

Chorus
Old Man Tursun, he holds his sway
In that saddle he's gonna stay
Every ride he proves his worth
Tursun, the legend of the earth

Verse
Horses graze low on Irad's land
Tursun drives 'em with a steady hand
He don't say much but he gets respect
Young men watch him, learn and reflect

Chorus
Old Man Tursun, he holds his sway
In that saddle he's gonna stay
Every ride he proves his worth
Tursun, the legend of the earth

Verse
Young men come with something to prove
Tursun don't even have to move
Age may slow him but the skill remains
Ain't no young man gonna take his reins

Bridge
In the twilight the shadows grow
But Tursun's fire is still aglow
He's stood up to every test
And the weight of years is just a jest

Chorus
Old Man Tursun, he holds his sway
In that saddle he's gonna stay
Every ride he proves his worth
Tursun, the legend of the earth

Outro
Young men come and young men go
Old men know what the young don't know
When the sun goes down on Irad's plains
Old Man Tursun still remains

References

1. ^ Talas State University Press (2018). Steppe Ballads: American Song and Iradi Country-Folk, 1980–2010, pp. 63–64.