laid back in an old saloon with a peso in my hand watching flies and children on the street and i catch a glimpse of black eyed girls who giggle when i smile there s a little boy who wants to shine my feet and it s three days ride from bakersfield and i don t know why i came i guess i came to keep from paying dues so instead i ve got a bottle and a girl who s just fourteen and a damn good case of the mexicali blues yeah is there anything a man don t stand to lose when the devil wants to take it all away cherish well your thoughts and keep a tight grip on your booze cause thinkin and drinkin are all i have today she said her name was billie jean and she was fresh in town i didn t know a stage line ran from hell she had raven hair a ruffled dress a necklace made of gold all the french perfume you d care to smell she took me up into her room and whispered in my ear go on my friend do anything you choose now i m payin for those happy hours i spent there in her arms with a lifetime s worth of the mexicali blues yeah is there anything a man don t stand to lose when the devil wants to take it all away cherish well your thoughts and keep a tight grip on your booze cause thinkin and drinkin are all i have today and then a man rode into town some thought he was the law billie jean was waiting when he came she told me he would take her if i didn t use my gun but i d have no one but myself to blame i went down to those dusty streets blood was on my mind i guess that stranger hadn t heard the news cause i shot first and killed him lord he didn t even draw and he made me trade the gallows for the mexicali blues yeah  is there anything a man don t stand to lose when he lets a woman hold him in her hands you just might find yourself out there on horseback in the dark just riding and running across those desert sands