He was black as the sky on a moonless night
Good with horses never reined them 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 cow-towns and sin
There was blood on the leather and tears in their eyes
We swore at the devil and went for a ride

We told some tales, he told them best
Real life can always use a good stretch
But that don't change the things we did
Cause the realest 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 cow-towns and sin
And there was blood on the leather and tears in her eyes
We swore at the devil and then we went for a ridethat's right

More than one kind of pain, more than one kind of theft
And it's bitter as the night that sweet Jesus wept
She stole my heart age stole the fire
They stole my prairie when they strung all that wire
It wasn't no cowboys and ponies it was horses and men
It wasn't no school boys and ladies it was cow-towns and sin
And there was blood on the leather and tears in her eyes
We swore at the devil and went for a ride

I swore at the devil and went for ride