[Intro]
[Verse]
When I was a young man in my prime
I had a woman and her future by my side
But the four winds blow and the grass don t grow
Round the feet of a man with travellin in his hide
[Verse]
So I threw off all the shackles and the chains
And I said goodbye to what s-her-name
And I suffered through the cold September rain
Headed back to freedom once again
[Verse]
Well, I tried my luck on a fiery buck
At the back of a two-room ramblin ranchin shack
Now there s nothing worse than a buckskin horse
With a mind of his own and a saddle on his back
[Verse]
For riding he just couldn t seem to care
So he left me there in the dusty air
And I suffered through the insult and the pain
Landed on my backside once again
[Verse]
Well, I broke my back laying down the track
For the railroad that was making its way out West
But I had no feel for the cold hard steel
And a kind of a job that would give a man no rest
[Verse]
So I said goodbye and I headed North for gold
And I staked my claim on a salted vein
And I suffered from the hunger and the cold
And all I found was a young man growing old
[Verse]
I drank my fill of the barroom swill
And I danced til the sun was a jewel in the morning sky
I used my fist for a goodnight kiss
On the face of a man with evil in his eye
[Verse]
Then I stumbled through the morning feeling ill
Till I fell with a thud in the rain and the mud
And I suffered through a day or two in jail
Then I headed back for the freedom of the trail
[Instrumental]
[Verse]
Well, the years have flown, but the times I ve known
Were better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail
If a man will try and a man don t lie to himself
Life can be one hell of a tale
[Verse]
To change my life, I wouldn t give a dime
And when I go the books will show
That I suffered from my youth right through my prime
I m headed back to freedom, one last time
