It was on the day the cowboys were abandoned from the ranch

(It was on the day the cowboys were banned from the range)

Middle touch world as a master

(Metal touched the world as a master)

They rode their ponies down in the cities of gold

To leave them for ever after

Now the sun was swollen red and old

The earth it was windy, dark and cold

Were the highway ends the desert takes its toll

Sodusty, red and angry

It was a time when men died out on the praire

From not having a decent friend

At nights the ghosts to the more of riders

Was a howl in the candid winds



You can here them crying

Good God, I think they're dying



When them rangers down in Dallas

Had all, but given it up and left

And those that hang on hoping

Was trying their best to, to forget

The way those outlaws and desperadoes

Right from the cheapest to the best

Rode in on ponies made of skin and bones

Keep up their rusty guns and went back home

(Gave up their rusty guns and went back home)

And the governor was sent down from Population Control

And marshall all was past

(And marshal Law was passed)

Riverboat gamblers put their money on faith

For the time for hope they passed



In the cold blue light of the desert night

There was a thousand starry ships

And men came down from still I don't now where

With death on their fingertips

Now there's no more kings in Texas

I swear they rounded up each and everyone

And old Atlanta Canastoga

(And oh that line of Conestogas) - covered wagons

Reached from the Rocky Mountains into the old dead sun

Now Anna Maria walks the blames alone

(Now Anna Maria walks the plains alone)

The last of a struggling people

She thinks of all those outlaws who wanted to reach for the skies

And got stuck up on a steamboat

(And got stuck up on a steeple)

Oh, you can hear them crying

Good God, I think they're dying

In the wind you can hear them sighing