(Nanci Griffith)



Oh, your golden lights of America,

Joseph sought your prairies and your buffalo

And the humming of the rails down through

Kansas, they brought Joseph in from Baltimore

The Cavalry the Indians and an old dan were his only friends

Then the old dan died and the Indian's plight

Made the Cavalry young Joe's enemy.



Oh, the oultlaws spilled the blood across  

The Kansas plains in the '70s

Joseph took a badge for America

To defend you from your fantasies

Joseph wore that badge across the Kansas prairies

To save the railroads

But the heroes that we made, well, they were

Ruthless soldiers who'll kill for gold.



With a broken heart for the frontier plains

Joseph sat a-rocking in his front porch swing

That old tin badge is tarnished now

You know it was just a young man's dream

And old man's tales are hard to reach when you

Don't believe in your American dream

The Indians, the buffalo and old Joe Mason

They died from memory



Oh, your golden lights of America

Joseph sought your prairies and your buffalo

And the humming of the rails down through Kansas

They brought Joseph in from Baltimore

The Cavalry, the Indians and an old dan

Forsaken old man.



Oh, your golden lights of America.