singer, songwriter, rock 'n' roller
Snakeskin boots and silver spurs and a hot-wired guitar
Apache tears and condors on the sky
He told you "We'll live beyond the law"
He pointed in his dreams and there you saw
Marty Robbins' voice rings out in Durango
Down midnight streets 'neath a silver dollar moon
Outlaw dreams and mescaline and gold
Count the white-washed crosses down the road
In Durango on Dio de los Muertos
The children eat sugar-candy skulls
Light a candle for all those gone before
Like all the years that flew right out the door
You work your job you bring your money home
He paints a picture right there where you stand
See the snake hypnotize the bird
See you money fall into his hands
"Oh how long before we leave here for Durango?"
You ask him when half the night is spent
It doesn't even matter what he said
You swear you'd follow anywhere he led
And you say "Tell me again about the desert
About the turquoise and the saints above the doors"
Peyote tea and smugglers on the roads
Mission bells and border radio
It's a thousand miles away off in the distance
You think you see it shining in the haze
"Baby, take me there" you whisper low
"I've waited. Tell me: Is it time to go?"
But you know he's not too good at specifics
Or distinguishing the real world from his dreams
You climb out of bed with the sunrise
You go to work while he is asleep
You swear by the icons in your bookcase
You swear by the tarots you can't read
You swear by everything you don't believe
Why don't you tell me when do we leave
Oh take me through the cauldron of the Badlands
I'll drink the water laced with alkaline
Can't you see we've go to leave this place?
Can't you see we're dying day by day?
I ask you and you just look bewildered
You get angry when I try to plan
You act like someone who just doesn't care
Like someone who's not going anywhere
Somewhere in the mesas in the moonlight
Somewhere down the highways of Cortez
There lies a city over the horizon
You can rest in peace with all your friends down there