As a young man I went riding
Out on the western plain
In the state of North Dakota

I met my Nellie Kane
I met my Nellie Kane

She was living in a lonely cabin
With a son by another man
Five years she had waited for him

As long as a woman can
As long as a woman can

I don't know what changed my mind
Til then I was the ramblin' kind
The kind of love I can't explain

That I had for Nellie Kane
She took me on to work that day
To help her till the land
In the afternoon we planted seeds

In the evening we held hands
In the evening we held hands

Her blue eyes told me everything
A man could want to know
And it was then I realized
I would never goI would never go

(chorus)

Now many years have gone by
And her son has grown up tall
I became a father to him
And she became my all
She became my all