He was black as the sky on a moonless night
Real good with the horses, he never reined them too tight
And 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
And there was blood on the leather and tears in her eyes
We swore at the Devil and then 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 truest 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 went for a ride
More than one kind of pain, more than one kind of theft
Bitter as the night sweet Jesus wept
She stole my heart, age stole the fire
They stole my prairie when they strung all that wire
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 went for a ride
Lord, we swore at the Devil and then went for a ride