Mountains of New Mexico

Here’s a tale that I will tell you

Of a man caught in between

All the troubles back behind him

And the ones he ain’t yet seen

Was a dusty July morning

He was pickin’ up his pay

From another week of diggin’

On the railroad man’s highway

Headed up to Colorado

And the work was gettin’ slow

Cuttin’ through the bedrock of

The mountains of New Mexico

Heard the growlin’ of a stranger

Tellin’ him to make it fast

He wasn’t looking for no trouble

Only looking for some cash

Found the trigger of his pistol

And the next thing he did know

Was a gunshot ringing through

The mountains of New Mexico

They made it right up to the canyon

Headin’ for the higher ground

When the Sheriff reined his horse in

Told ‘em all to gather round

Said, “It’s as sure a death as hangin’,

If he’s fool enough to go

Looking for salvation in

The mountains of New Mexico”

He kept runnin’ into nowhere

Through the fields of broken stone

Til he knew that he had lost ‘em

And he knew he was alone

But he felt a chill come to the air

As those desert winds began to blow

And felt his joy turn to despair

In the mountains of New Mexico

Now if you listen to the stories

All the cowboys like to tell

He made it up to purgatory

Maybe all the way to Hell

But the truth out here is what you make it

And it was fifty years ago

That I gambled everything I had

In the mountains of New Mexico