Streets of Laredo lyrics

Artist  : Johnny Cash 
Song : Streets of Laredo
 


As I walked out on the streets of Laredo.
As I
walked out on Laredo one day,
I spied a poor
cowboy wrapped in white linen,
Wrapped in
white linen as cold as the clay.

"I can
see by your outfit that you are a
cowboy."
These words he did say as I boldly
walked by.
" Come an' sit down beside me an'
hear my sad story.
" I'm shot in the breast
an' I know I must die."

"It was once in
the saddle, I used to go dashing.
" Once in
the saddle, I used to go gay.
" First to the
card-house and then down to Rose's.
" But I'm
shot in the breast and I'm dying
today."

"Get six jolly cowboys to carry my
coffin.
" Six dance-hall maidens to bear up my
pall.
" Throw bunches of roses all over my
coffin.
" Roses to deaden the clods as they
fall."

"Then beat the drum slowly, play
the Fife lowly.
" Play the dead march as you
carry me along.
" Take me to the green valley,
lay the sod o'er me,
" I'm a young cowboy and
I know I've done wrong."

"Then go write a
letter to my grey-haired mother,
" An' tell
her the cowboy that she loved has gone.
" But
please not one word of the man who had killed
me.
" Don't mention his name and his name will
pass on."

When thus he had spoken, the hot
sun was setting.
The streets of Laredo grew
cold as the clay.
We took the young cowboy
down to the green valley,
And there stands his
marker, we made, to this day.

We beat the
drum slowly and played the Fife lowly,
Played
the dead march as we carried him along.
Down
in the green valley, laid the sod o'er him.
He
was a young cowboy and he said he'd done wrong.