he was black as the sky on a moonless night real good with the horses never reined them too tight he rode with the best hell he rode with me and they got it all wrong in that book of history it wasn t cowboys and ponies it was horses and men it wasn t school boys and ladies it was cow towns and sin and there was blood on the leather and tears in her eyes we swore at the devil then went for a ride we told some tales but he told them best real life can always use a good stretch but that don t change the things we did cause the truest thing was the life that we lived it wasn t cowboys and ponies it was horses and men it wasn t school boys and ladies it was cow towns and sin and there was blood on the leather and tears in her eyes we swore at the devil then went for a ride there s more than one kind of pain there s more than one kind of theft it s bitter as the night sweet jesus wept you stole my heart age stole the fire and they stole my prairie when they strung all that wire it wasn t cowboys and ponies it was horses and men it wasn t school boys and ladies it was cow towns and sin and there was blood on the leather and tears in her eyes we swore at the devil then went for a ride we swore at the devil and went for a ride