Ridin’ Like the Wind
Words by Douglas Heyes Jr.

Ridin’ Like the Wind"

‘49 Gold Rush, came out on the train
Played penny poker and drank cheap champagne
A board and bat Shack where I staked my claim
No turning back from this dangerous game
Shot in the head with a .44 load
Left me for dead by the side of the road
Somehow the Lord got me out of that ditch
And so I went after that son-of-a-bitch

I met a woman in Wichita Falls
Women wore dresses and men had the balls
To keep going west and breaking the law
Female companion was half Chickasaw
Drunk cowboy called her a damn half-breed Squaw
The one that shut his mouth was the one he never saw
We made it up to Kansas and North to Omaha
A hoofbeat and a heartbeat ahead of the law

(Chorus)

We were riding
Like the wind
Unforgiven
For our sins
Till we made it
Round the bend
We were riding
Like the wind

We made it into town under a shinin’ yellow moon
Found our way downtown to the Dance Hall & Saloon
We could hear the poker game off in the back room
Charlie the Piano Man played a Ragtime tune
That's where I spotted the rattlesnake who shot me
Playing 8s and aces with his back to the wall
I showed him the scar on my head where he got me
Bullets went flying all over the hall

I took one high and he took one low
Bound to be somebody's last rodeo
Blood on the boardwalk and blood on the sand
A smile on my face and a gun in my hand
Everything got quiet for a moment in the Sun
Not a word was spoken by me or anyone
That's when he reminded me of rule number one
You go down in a showdown when you live by the gun

We were ridin’
Like the wind
Unforgiven
For our sins
Till we made it
Round the Bend
We were ridin’
Like the Wind

Just as I feared he came up dealing lead
When the smoke cleared, an outlaw was dead
With an eagle eye the good Lord has blessed her
And put in her hands an old Frontier Winchester
We rode through the mountains and out to the West
Rocky Mountain winter really put us to the test
Town in California put a star upon my chest
We stayed there together till I laid her to rest

There were flowers on the water down by the riverside
We played her favorite music and everybody cried
They say the River Jordan is cold and deep and wide
I know she's waiting for me on the other side
Sometimes in the nighttime I hear her sing to me
A song we used to sing out there when we were wild and free
All the things we left behind may not come around again
But when I still dream of her, she's ridin' like the wind

We'll be ridin’
Like the wind
Unforgiven
For our sins
When we make it
Round the bend
We’ll be ridin’
Like the wind

*****