Johnny Cash

Ride This Train (Part 2)

Johnny Cash


Ride this train to any little trail in the West you may find me riding alone late at night 
My poor old horse don't understand why I ride at night and sleep in the daytime 
Or why we ride in the bushes and hide every time I hear a noise 
Well that's all I've done for months now running and hiding 
You see my name is John Wesley Hardin no I'm not proud of the name anymore 
They say I've killed forty men they tell a lot of different stories about me 
Of course I guess I'm to blame for a lot of it 
I killed the first time when I was fifteen to save my life but then I had to do it again 
Then every bum in the country that was fast with the gun started lookin' for me 
They called me the fastest gun alive and I guess I was fast or I wouldn't be alive now 
I got to where I couldn't walk down a street or in a saloon 
Without some trigger-happy cowpoke 
Wantin' to prove he could outdraw old John Wesley Hardin 
Maybe I got a little bitter and didn't care whether I killed or not for a while 
And I never quite forgot when the authorities in Huntsville prison 
Dragged me up in the snow naked and horsewhipped me 
Well that's why I'm ridin' at night I want to go where no one has ever seen me 
Where I won't even have to wear a gun 
Maybe I'll settle down in a quiet little town somewhere 
Even get a job on the right side of the law who knows 
Maybe in a new town the people will let me forget