REAL LIVE COWBOY

a weathered man with one closed eye from squinting at a western sun
a rodeo buckle, a buckskin shirt undone
his jeans were always worn and faded, but for where a gun might cling
this was no t.v. hero, he was the real thing

   he was a real live cowboy
   there aren't too many more
   i'd ask him what it's like to ride the range
   he said "son, you get saddle-sore
   but you don't do things that aren't your way
   it's honest work for honest pay"
   he was a real live cowboy
   there aren't too many more

he taught me how to break a horse, he taught me how to ride
we spent a week branding herd out on a mountainside
then one day he rolled his bed and said "i must move on"
a cowboy's free, cause he has to be
i watched him ride into the sun

   he was a real live cowboy
   there aren't too many more
   i'd ask him what it's like to ride the range
   he said "son, you get saddle-sore
   but you don't do things that aren't your way
   it's honest work for honest pay"
   he was a real live cowboy
   there aren't too many more

he came back through town the other day
he looked at me with one closed eye
he seemed to approve of the man i'd become
and how i fit against that western sky

   i'm a real live cowboy
   we aren't too many more
   i know what it's like to ride the range
   man, you get saddle-sore
   but you don't do things that aren't your way
   it's honest work for honest pay
   i'm a real live cowboy
   we aren't too many more

   i'm a real live cowboy
   i thank god i knew at least one more.