MONTANA IN TIME
© Greg Keeler 1989

Montana In Time

Chorus
Come take a walk, friend of mine,
Through the place, through the time.
Montana you're still doin' fine
From your plains to your rocky timberline--

From your warm inland seas to the coolin' of the land
When the Earth shrugged her shoulders one day
And started these mountains that grow where we stand,
Still takin' shape while the waters fall away,
Still takin' shape while the waters fall away.
And sometimes at night we can feel where we are
When we lie back and watch your big sky fill with stars
While venus shines bright and the meteors play
At the foot of that old Milky Way.

Chorus

And we can walk where those dinosaurs roamed this great land,
Where they nested and once raised their young.
Even now forty million years later they stand
In your rock where their record is sung,
In your rock where their record is sung.
Montana, one century means nothing to you,
But thanks for this chance just to be passin' through.
With your lives like your rivers that bear our brief names,
You change while you still stay the same.

Chorus

And our brothers and sisters from ten thousand years
Will greet us and show us their ways
When all that they had was their wits and their spears
And the great wooly mammoth, their prey,
And the great wooly mammoth, their prey.
We've just scratched the surface of what came before.
Who knows what will be in ten thousand years more.
You're our mystery, our promise, our vision, our quest.
Montana, we'll give you our best.

Chorus
Then that great expedition of Lewis and Clark
Came up to your mountains one year,
With Sacacawea to show them the way
And your sparklin' Missouri runnin' near,
And your sparklin' Missouri runnin' near.
Most likely millions had found you before,
And millions will find you again. That's for sure.
There's always discovery, adventure and friends
Waiting around every bend.

Chorus

Then those homesteaders with axes and plows
Brought their cattle, their wheat and their hay.
They put down their fences and turned up your land
So that we can all live here today.
So that we can all live here today.
It's a comfort to know we're just part of the plan,
So we'll try to keep learning to change with your land,
Your mountains, your valleys, your lakes and your streams
That shape our American dreams.

Chorus

Some try to capture their place in your time,
And send it to those down the line,
On the hides of their teepees, on canvas and frame
To give those who follow a sign.
To give those who follow a sign.
Montana one centure means nothing to you,
But thanks for the chance just to be passin' through.
With your lives like your rivers that bear our brief names,
You change while you still stay the same.