I crossed the Mississippi, turned south at San Antone A bowie knife, a woolen coat, a grip bag on my arm It's all somebody needs to make it through the land Walk the night, travel light, cross the Rio Grande Someone strums a mandolin, soft gulf breezes blow My new life is waiting in old Mexico I was once a married man livin' peacefully Hard to say exactly when the devil blinded me But there was some confusion when my sweet wife left this world Darker times, drunken crimes, a dead young working girl Left a jailer there in Caroline, watching me from down below My new life is waiting in old Mexico Livin' in the shadows Runnin' from my fame Blowin' where the wind blows Where no one knows my name In the El Vaquero Bar in the town of Eagle Pass Moments from my freedom warm whiskey in my glass Some boracho took me for the man who stole his wife He went for his forty-four as I reached for my knife He never fired a second shot he was just too slow My new life is waiting in old Mexico I hear of hidden harbors south of Mazatlan Where cool spring mountain waters meet the warm Pacific sun I pray the miles I've traveled and all the sins I bear Burn away like mornin' fog and vanish in the air Miles beyond the border now, but many miles to go My new life is waiting in old Mexico