Mary Martin was a schoolgirl just seventeen or so
When she married Billy Archer about fourteen years ago
Not even out of high school, folks said it wouldn't last
But when you grow up in the country, you grow up mighty fast

They married in a hurry in March before school was out
Folks said that she was pregnant, ""Just wait and you'll find out""
It came about that winter, one gray November morn
The first of many more to come, a baby boy was born

And cattle is their game and Archer is the name
They gave to the acres that they own
If the Brazos don't run dry
And the newborn calves, they don't die
Another year from Mary will have flown
Another year from Mary will have flown

Now Billy kept what cattle his father could afford
Bouncing across the cactus in a 1950 Ford
The cows were sick and skinny and the weeds was all that grew
But Billy kept the place alive, the only thing he knew

And Mary cooked the supper and Mary scrubbed the clothes
And Mary busted horses and blew the baby's nose
And Mary and a shotgun kept the rattlesnakes away
How she kept on smiling no one could ever say

And cattle is their game and Archer is the name
They give to the acres that they own
If the Brazos don't run dry
And the newborn calves, they don't die
Another year from Mary will have flown
Another year from Mary will have flown

Now the drought of fifty-seven was a curse upon the land
No one in Bosque county could give Bill a helping hand
The ground was cracked and broken and the truck was out of gas
And cows can't feed on prickly pear instead of growing grass

Well, the weather got the water and a snake bite took a child
And a fire in the old barn took the hay that Bill had piled
The mortgage got the money and the screw worm got the cows
The years have come for Mary, she's waiting for them now

And cattle is their game and Archer is the name
They give to the acres that they own
If the Brazos don't run dry
And the newborn calves, they don't die
Another year from Mary will have flown
Another year from Mary will have flown

Mary Martin was a schoolgirl just seventeen or so
When she married Billy Archer about fourteen years ago
Not even out of high school, folks said it wouldn't last
But when you grow up in the country, you grow up mighty fast