As I walked out in the streets of Laredo
As I walked out in Laredo one day
I saw a young cowboy, all wrapped in white linen
Wrapped in white linen and cold as the clay

I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy
These words he did say as I slowly walked by
Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story
I'm shot in the breast and I'm dying today

"'Twas once in the saddle I used to go dashing
'Twas once in the saddle I used to go gay
First to the grant-house, and then to the card-house
Got shot in the breast and I'm dying today"

Oh, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly
Play the Death March as you carry me along
Take me to the green valley and lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong

"Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin
Get six pretty maidens to bear up my pall
Put bunches of roses all over my coffin
Roses to deaden the clods as they fall"

"Go bring me a cup, a cup of cold water
To cool my parched lips", the cowboy then said
Before I returned, this soul had departed
And gone to the round up – the cowboy was dead

We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly
And bitterly wept as we bore him along
We all loved our comrade, so brave, young and handsome
We all loved our comrade, although he'd done wrong