Song Description
Happy ending for the bad guy.
| Song Length |
4:29 |
Genre |
Rock - Roots/Rock n' Roll |
| Subject |
Murder, Rape, Numbness |
Similar Artists |
Dire Straits |
| Language |
English |
Era |
2000 and later |
Lyrics
William was an outlaw, but he was no fool as no one knew his name.
He dodged the gun, and slipped the law.
William got too old for all the running?knew he had to leave the game
After one last bank in Omaha.
He gathered up his swag and every wooden nickel he could find.
Caught a train that very night he had no one to leave behind.
Headed west with the golden coast of California on his mind.
Opened up an inn and worked the bar like a man refined.
William poured the house a round in his empty bar as a stranger breached the door.
He set a spell and spent some time.
The stranger said that he had come from Tulsa?couldn?t take it anymore.
The town was lost to a world of crime.
William thought of all the time in Oklahoma he had spent.
The height of his career was there; a mark he left beyond a dent.
The up and coming guns were there and the most advice that he had leant.
He told the boy, ?You?re better off without all that.? And that he meant.
The stranger said, ?That?s not the only reason that I left the town I love.
I would have just as soon stayed to fight.
I left to find the man who killed my woman.
He took her life on our wedding night.
Robbed her of the jewel she had that told her of our love so strong.
Robbed me of the life I led?her words to me were like a song.
I?m told that he moved westward to live out a life far from his wrongs
And with God?s help I?ll find him and send him to Hell, where he belongs.?
The chill that entered William filled the room as he poured another rye.
?Well I hope you find him,? he told the kid.
The stranger drew his gun and looked at William with a cold and steady eye.
He said, ?Old man, I already did.?
The stranger?s mark was left unsure from years of anger welled inside.
A broken bottle hit the floor; he had no time to lose his pride.
A shot returned from William?s gun, lodging in the stranger?s side.
A broken wounded man of anger hit the floor, and there he died.
William was an outlaw, but he was no fool as no one knew his name.
He dodged the gun, and slipped the law.