Far across the Mississippi and out on the open plains 

In an Oklahoma cow town where the sky begins to rain 

In a dusty run-down honky tonk sits a drifting tumbleweed 

Thumbing through some magazine that he can't even read 



Now tumbleweed remembers how the west was won and lost 

The homestead act and the dust bowl, everybody paid the cost 

And the great white father promised to treat his children all the same 

Back when Indian territory was Oklahoma's name 



Oh tumbleweed keep rollin', he just roams from town to town 

It ain't easy for a half-breed kid to try and settle down 

Tumbleweed keep rollin', he can't find no place to rest 

Yeah the desert wind blows tumbleweed like some spirit of the west 



Well his boot heals tap in time to an old flat top guitar 

And he's a guitar local hero and he sings straight from the heart 

And his tip jar just a jungle of worn old dollar bills 

He makes his rent and grocery in the local bar and grill 



When he starts to picking that old guitar you know the people turn and stare 

When he starts to sing the songs he wrote wells there's magic in the air 

Cause his song can heal your wounded heart, he can set you spirit free 

He can raise you hopes to be the very best that you can be 



Oh tumbleweed keep rollin', he just roams from town to town 

It ain't easy for a half-breed kid to try and settle down 

Tumbleweed keep rollin', he can't find no place to rest 

Yeah the desert wind blows tumbleweed like some spirit of the west 



So if you cross the Mississippi, you head out on the open plain 

And you pass through Oklahoma and the sky begins to rain 

And you feeling kind of rootless, you can't find no place to rest 

Just remember tumbleweed, he's the spirit of the west 



Oh the desert blows old tumbleweed like some spirit of the west