INTRO: On the old Rio Grande around midnight, the young boy had fallen asleep The old yeller dog he found on the trail lay curled in a ball at his feet The cowpokes was all drunk and wasted in a town right close to the herd When a hurricane wind come blowin' in, there weren't time to give 'em no word St. Elmo's fire lit up the herd, turned 'em and turned 'em to one When they plowed thru the town with the eeriest sound, not a single soul there was spared Not a soul there was spared The young boy went whippin' and ridin' into the darkness of night The cookie's young steed was a hell of a ride and the saddle bags bulged on each side He rode northeast toward the sunrise that came when the wind died away The saddle bags held all the cookie had come by, beef jerky, a gun, and his pay It was the kid's lucky day Evan McGuire was a gambler, cheater of cards was his trade A horseless carriage that ran out of gas last night was a part of his wage The trail was right lonesome that mornin, nary a soul was in sight When the young boy rode up the gambler took aim, figurin' to take the kid's ride His bullet went strange like the life he had led, it just wasn't his lucky day With his life he did pay The kid rifled thru his belongin's, never had killed him no man The cookie's pistol was weathered and worn but it brought down a hard one that day The kid rode away Aunt Jessie's Chicken Farm waited, on those seekin' comfort and play The young boy was older and wiser by then, but somethin' just pulled him that way He'd taken the money, the gun, and the watch, the gambler had need for no more Then he tipped back his hat and he crawled off his horse and headed for Aunt Jessie's door This would be his first whore Women all gathered around him, marveled how young he must be The kid picked him one, went for her room, when she gracefully led him away It was his turn to play A month's worth of wages he spent there, that's where he figured he'd stay The woman he'd picked was the best of the lot, older and wiser than he Try as she may she still fell in love, started to lay back her pay They would marry some day One night while dustin' his clothes off, she noticed the watch by her bed She knew the man who belonged to that watch, somehow she knew he was dead She was barely fifteen when she met him, and bore him a son on the trail The baby got left in the fork of a tree and he dragged her off sicker than hell She escaped him somehow When she asked the kid 'bout his birthplace, she teared up and started to cry She held him and hugged him and kissed him, and told him to leave her that night The kid pulled himself into manhood, saved him a measure of pride Mother and son bid each other goodbye, she waved as he rode out of sight She raised the kid