my name is william bonny and i have some things to tell all about my life n death and the way things are in hell and lies they told about me after garrett shot me down in mexico in 1881 twenty one were the lives that garrett said i took that was just another lie he wrote down in his book for he had to make it seem as though i were the devils seed but the lives i took they were three and the skies of lincoln county were as blue as blue could be and the sun that shines on you well it used to shine on me and i knew the smell of woodsmoke and i liked the taste of beer the only difference now is i m not here i m in new mexico and it s 1881 a man who d lie to save his skin won t look you in the eye garrett never saw my face when he let those bullets fly and i died there in pete maxwell s room no boots upon my feet in the dark and all alone they had themselves an inquest and then they buried me they made me into something that i never meant to be and the vultures came and chipped away the headstone on my grave and then took it home for souvenirs and the skies of lincoln county were as blue as blue could be and the sun that shines on you well it used to shine on me and i knew the smell of woodsmoke and i liked the taste of beer the only difference now is i m not here i m in new mexico and it s 1881 history books are written by the ones who survive garrett was the one who came out of that room alive and he harnessed up my ghost made it sing and dance and i am dancing still i m dancing still the corridors of my hell they never ever change i am doomed forever to this little piece of range trapped here by a legend that s no making of my own i look around and i see it s still new mexico and it s 1881 and the skies of lincoln county were as blue as blue could be and the sun that shines on you well it used to shine on me and i knew the smell of woodsmoke and i liked the taste of beer the only difference now is i m not here i m in new mexico and it s 1881 it s still new mexico and it s 1881