Song Description

A cowboy, passing through a town on his way to his own wedding, witnesses a probable rape and shoots the perpetrators. He, being a stranger, is confronted by an angry mob. Rather than take a chance that he will be found innocent of any wrong doing, he goes on the run and spends the rest of his life concealing identify by staying in the shadows and out of the mainstream. He is telling the woman he was to marry that she couldn't live the life that has been trust on him and she has to get on with her life without him.

Lyrics

Living In The Shadows by Jim Miller Copyright 2007

verse
I was on my way back east to say my wedding vows
When I stopped to eat and get a little sleep
I was walking to my room, my horse was bedded down
When I heard a woman screaming in the street

A pair of drunken cowboys had come out of a saloon
Grabbed a lady and had pulled her from her feet
When the gun smoke cleared the air, I was left standing there
And an angry mob was coming after me

chorus
Staying out of sight, it?s in the shadows that I hide
Never use my true identity
Can?t bring you along, you wouldn?t like the life
Living in the shadows with me

verse
Been told there is no way that you can change what?s been done
Advice I wish I?d taken time to heed
But wishing you?d done different is a sorry waste of time
For a man has to live with all his deeds

I don?t regret doing, what needed to be done
But it?s risky business trying to clear your name
A jury might not see it like it happened that dark night
And I?d be wearing a hemp necktie to my grave

chorus
Staying out of sight, it?s in the shadows that I hide
Never use my true identity
Can?t bring you along, you wouldn?t like the life
Living in the shadows with me

verse
So I keep on looking around me as I move from town to town
Now I?m careful where I stop to eat and sleep
Staying in the shadows so I won?t be recognized
Bedding down in empty towns with empty streets

bridge
If only I?d kept riding and not stopped in that damned town
We would be together now my dear
But I?m living by the gun, in the shadows where I run
It?s the brightness of the sun that I must fear

verse
I keep on moving around, I?ll never settle down
And though I?m getting quicker on the draw
The shadows where I dwell is the closest place to hell
That a man can live when running from the law

chorus
Staying out of sight, it?s in the shadows that I hide
Never use my true identity
Can?t bring you along, you wouldn?t like the life
Living in the shadows with me