What's the condition of the highway
Have you seen what's up ahead,
Is anybody hungry
Have the children all been fed?

Information keeps drifting in
Rumors about the war,
Seems like everybody
Just wants to even up the score,

The road signs that I have seen
Are a little hard to read,
Maybe it's impossible
At this blinding rate of speed,

Somebody said it was dangerous
Rolling in the dark of night
There's a trick bag full of shadows out,
An they be hiding from the light,

Shoes like mine are worthless
Out on this hard concrete,
Yesterday was easier
With only dust beneath my feet.

The grass is always greener
Dealing the bottom of the deck,
Crass platitudes, cheap political slogans,
And other hopeless rhetoric,

They said come to the inauguration
We got a brand new president,
He'll make everything better now
Because he is heaven sent,

I saw stone cold dead images
Icons of the past,
Buried in the sediment
Of everything that doesn't last,

When I was a kid I thought George Washington
Was an old lady in a wig,
It wasn't until later on
That I found out he was really big,

I need a better definition
Of the way things really are,
Everybody's busy watching TV
When they should be loading up the car

Is it a matter of coincidence?
That you and I would meet like this,
Out here on this lonely stretch of road
Where things are hits and miss,

They say only the strong survive
And we know that is true,
You can take anything you need from me
And I might want something from you,

Romance, Tragedy, and Redemption
Three things that I see,
Over the first two I have no control,
And the last one is what need.

Oh life
Is a dangerous stretch of road,
If you ain't dead,
Then you're just growin' old
You can't be lookin' back
Or you won't see what's up ahead
Oh life
Is a dangerous stretch of road.

Oh you,
In the heart of your darkest dreams,
At night,
When things ain't what they seem,
There's a stone graveyard Madonna
And her message is clear and bright
Oh life
Is a dangerous stretch of road.

Run me down,
In a long black Cadillac,
Take my money
And the shirt that's on my back,
You know I got nothing to lose,
'Cause nothin' belongs to me,
oh life
is a dangerous stretch of road.

It takes more nerve than most men
Could muster in a lifetime
Of adventure and danger,
To follow in the footsteps of the Vagabond

Coming down that fast lane
Open highway.
Rolling on through all those
Genteel neighborhoods,
Where the tree lined boulevards
Give way, to the gray smoky skies,
Of the industrial factories,
Truck stops, steel yards,
Warehouses and ghettoes,
These are the footsteps of the Vagabond

Got to abandon the cockpit,
Pull over to the side of the road,
Run out of gasoline and money,
Prospects don't look so good,
Walking on pulling his collar up
Against the cold and wind that's
Blowing back bittersweet memories
Of a woman, in whose arms
Held all hopes and dreams,
Tracing down the footsteps of the Vagabond

Goodness Truth and Beauty,
All that's left when everything else is gone,
Beauty is all about proportion
And Truth is yet to be found,
Goodness is one kind handout
In those places for those who are down,
On something they call hard luck,
But a true Vagabond
Sees the Divine in all of Destiny,
Hallowed are the footsteps of the Vagabond

Prince Charming's feeling lucky,
He's survived another fight,
You'll find him in the garden
Binding his wounds by candle light,

All the Kingdom Princesses,
Damsels and slave girls too,
Watch from lace curtained windows,
Balconies and dusty streets,

Waiting in anticipation,
For a white horse riding hero,
Leading the big procession,
Polished armor shining like silver,

Prince Charming's been wounded,
But you can't tell it by his smile,
Try looking deep into his eyes,
And watch the pain as it comes and goes,

Danger on the road through the desert,
In the mountains old dragons don't die easy,
Blood is the price paid for honor,
And virtue has its cost….

I can see myself walking out the door,
And down a flight of stairs,
Tell me what good would it do,
If night time found me staying,
Tell me now Rosa Lee

(chorus)

somehow I feel so alone,
sitting with you by the window,
one by one across the bay,
lights come on as I right go,

(chorus)

Me and some of my old friends, no matter where we go
We got a big ol' Stetson, wear it pulled down low
Sometimes we talk about the old days and how it might have been
Riding with Charlie Goodnight on to the trails end

We just want to be the cowboys, facing the wind and the rain
We just want to be cowboys, and pass that way again
We just want to be Cowboys, living wild and free
Taking life like a stormy ride, out on the lone prarie
We just want to be Cowboys

You know we've seen some hard times, along the way,
We crossed the raging river, to a sunny day
Not everyone can be a win or lose, it's how you play the game

Starry nights in country, you can't take them away from me
We might be blinded by the city lights, but in our hearts we're still ridin' free
Sun down on a way of life, we barely had a chance to see
And we just want to be Cowboys

Turning him on to the teeth gnashing
Screams of the damned,
All the while driving him home.
It was stardust and fairytales
Being the boy that he was,
And when the time came,
Had to dress up like a man…
On the inside still young and yielding,
Soft as satin and silk
On the outside,
Old and work by the weather,
Sun scorched and wind whipped,
Hard as the flesh side
Of horse sweated leather.
You might have thought it was crazy
Trying to be who he was,
A paradox of principle
Both flesh and divine,
Truth and deceit,
Unconditional lover
Or pistol wielding mercenary
Dueling death in the street…
But when the dust has settled…
But when the dust has settled
And the day grows dim in your eyes,
Dreams fade into reality
Truth into eternity
The we can only regret
What we compromise…

I never knew Billy Edwards,
I heard he was a hell of a man,
He used to ride the rough string
For an outfit near the Rio Grande,
He drifted north into Kansas
Looking for the Promised Land

Instead he found him a woman
Country girl pretty as you ever seen,
She run off with a roving gambler
For the high life down on New Orleans,

After that they said he started drinking,
Didn't quit till forty three,
He said at the bottom of every bottle,
Was something he just has to see,

(Chorus)
It was there that he met Jesus,
One night in the pouring rain,
Borracho seeking shelter
In an old tent preachers domain,

The devil couldn't hold a candle
To loves burning flame,
A tent revival conversation
And Billy never was the same,

I never knew Billy Edwards
He was a little before my time,
In fact I was just a baby
When Billy was old and blind
But I remember the stories
About a life that was on wild ride,

They said he was a caballero,
Could make a cowpony slide and spin,
The old men talked about a mean outlaw,
And how Billy rode him like the wind

Hard living and hard drinking
A long and a lonesome highway,
Where living feels just like dying
And a waiting on the judgment day,

(Chorus)

If I saw you in the moonlight,
As the desert fires burn bright,
Could I tell you where my heart is
While in my arms I hold you tight,

Fragile like a flower,
At the mercy of the wind,
Could we dance this way forever,
If I saw you in the moonlight,

If I saw you in the moonlight,
Eternal beauty in your eyes,
Taken from my side while sleeping,
Ever more wounding me that night,

Naked my emotion
Laid bare for all the world to see,
I would pledge you my devotion,
If I saw you in the moonlight,

How fragile
The earthen vessel
Of our imprisonment,
The beauty
Of each crack and blemish,
Lending to each
It's own uniqueness…
In due time,
It's own demise

Out of this realm
Of contingency and sorrow,
Successiveness and pain,
Where there is no tomorrow,
Nothing is loss
And nothing is gain,
No steps to take
And no amends to make…

Six strong men it took,
To lay a brother down,
Six strong men, three for the hills,
And three from a cattle town.

I want to say my heart is heavy,
But I don't want to sound contrite,
I just wish there was something,
I could have said to his Mother,
And I wish there was something,
I could have said to the preacher,
But when you talk too much,
You run the risk of not saying anything…
Silence, is better than wasted words.

I wish you could have seen all the flowers there,
They were as fresh as spring rain,
And the preacher he was,
Preaching fir and brimstone,
A lot of people,
Thought it was out of line,
But I don't think the Lord,
Would want him to miss the opportunity,
To call out to some lost soul.

Six strong men it took,
To lay a brother down,
Six strong men, three from the hills,
And three from a cattle town.

Naked came I,
Out of my
Mother's womb,
And naked I
Shall return,

Everything lonesome,
And everything blue,
Can happen to you
In a moment of time,
In a heartbeat or two,

You can hide all your deficiency
Behind a cloak of respectability,
And pious religiosity,
But in the end,
You're naked as me…