he got the high sign so he jumped a bus and along the roads that wind on through the hot mojave and the jericho he d start his whole life anew and what he d left behind he hadn t valued half as much as some things he never knew right around sundown he got dropped off on a street in town where a grey old man looked him up and down and said son this ain t no western movie matinee and you re a long way off from yippee yi yay cause i can tell at a glance you re not from round these parts got a green look about ya and that s a gringo for starts sometimes the only thing a western savage understands are whiskey and rifles and an unarmed man like you so you gotta keep on the move don t let that fancy paint job fool you and then the old timer pulled him close and said you ve come a long way i know you got a longer drive ahead through the bones of the buffalo through the claims of the western dead and just like the spokes of a wheel you ll spin round with the rest you ll hear the drums and the brush of steel you ll hear the call of the west call of the west you ll hear the call of the west call of the west harshly awakened by the sound of six rounds of light caliber rifle fire followed minutes later by the booming of nine rounds from a heavier rifle but you can t close off the wilderness he heard the snick of a rifle bolt and found himself peering down the muzzle of a weapon held by a drunken liquor store owner there s a conflict he said there s a conflict between land and people the people have to go they ve come all the way out here to make mining claims to do automobile body work to gamble to take pictures to not have to do laundry to own a mini bike to have their own cb radios and air conditioning good plumbing for sure and to sell time life books and to work in a deli to have some chili every morning and maybe maybe to own their own gas stations again and to take drugs have some crazy sex but above all above all to have a fair shake to get a piece of the rock and a slice of the pie and spit out of the window of your car and not have the wind blow it back in your face now from the high timber line to the deserts dry who ll risk dangling on some hangman s tree to stake their claims on these prairie plains while they say this lunch is not had for free just like the spokes of a wheel who ll spin round with the rest they ll hear the drums and the brush of steel and i ll hear the call of the west call of the west i ll hear the call of the west call of the west i ll hear the call of the west call of the west i ll hear the call of the west call of the west i ll hear the call of the west call of the west well youyou wanted unleaded unleadedthat s next pump over so keep on movin okay no it s out of order