He was black as the sky on a moonless night Good with horses never reined them too tight 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 There was blood on the leather and tears in their eyes We swore at the devil and 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 realest 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 we went for a ridethat's right More than one kind of pain, more than one kind of theft And it's bitter as the night that sweet Jesus wept She stole my heart age stole the fire They stole my prairie when they strung all that wire It wasn't no cowboys and ponies it was horses and men It wasn't no 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 went for a ride I swore at the devil and went for ride