Won't you scratch my itch sweet Annie Rich
And welcome me back to town?
Come out on your porch or step into your parlor
And I'll tell you how it all went down
Out with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels
And a good saloon in every single town

Oh, and I remembered something you once told me
And I'll be damned if it did not come true
Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down
And they all led me straight back home to you

'Cause I headed west to grow up with the country
Across those prairies with those waves of grain
And I saw my devil and I saw my deep blue sea
And I thought about a calico bonnet from Cheyenne to Tennessee

We flew straight across that river bridge, last night half past two
The switchman waved his lantern goodbye and good day as we went rolling through
Billboards and truck stops pass by the grievous angel
And now I know just what I have to do

And the man on the radio won't leave me alone
He wants to take my money for something that I've never been shown
And I saw my devil and I saw my deep blue sea
And I thought about a calico bonnet from Cheyenne to Tennessee

The news I could bring, I met up with the king on his head, an amphetamine crown
He talked about unbuckling that old Bible belt and lighted out for some desert town
Out with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels
And a good saloon in every single town

Oh, but I remembered something you once told me
And I'll be damned if it did not come true
Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down
And they all led me straight back home to you
Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down
And they all led me straight back home to you