He was black as the sky on a moonless night
He was good with horses, he never reined 'em too tight
He rode with the best, hell he rode with me
And they got it all wrong in that book of history.

It wasn't cowboys and ponies
It was horses and men
It wasn't school boys and ladies
It was cowtowns and sin.

And there was blood on the leather
And tears in her eyes
We swore at the devil
And went for a ride.

We told some tales he told em best
Real life can always use a good stretch
But that don't change the things we did
'Cause the truest thing was the life that we lived

It wasn't cowboys and ponies
it was horses and men
It wasn't school boys and ladies
It was cowtowns and sin.

More than one kind of pain, more than one kind of theft
And its bitter as the night sweet Jesus wept
She stole my heart and stole the fire
They stole my praire when they strung all that wire.

Chorus:
It wasn't cowboys and ponies
It was horses and men
It wasn't school boys and ladies
It was cowtowns and sin...