Rhymes of the Renegades (Album Version)

If you listen close when the hot wind blows

Down the dust filled streets of old tombstone

You might hear an old rhyme ringin'

Of the legends who walked in their long black coats

And their high top boots and their 45 colts

Right in to this song i'm singing

That the ballad mongers made

Into the rhymes of the renegades

Way up in dakota by the deadwood moon

Wild bill's ghost haunts number 10 saloon

Where a coward came to get him

Bill held a dead man's hand of aces and eights

With his back to the door he tempted fate

Old bill never knew what hit him

Gamblin' his life away

To the ryhmes of the renegades

And in all of the towns too tough to die

Their dancin' up on boot hill tonight

Laughin' at the movies hollywood made

Dancing to the rhymes of the renegades

And billy the kid is laughing right out loud

At how they turned him into a hero somehow

Who'll cast a third stone at his well known grave

While chanting these rhymes of the renegades

Way out in california by a long dark bend

And a mask and duster blowing in the wind

Black bart still stands there waitin'

And out in el paso the thunder cloud rolls

Like john wessley hardin's guns long ago

And the west still loves to hate him

For his legend will not fade

From the rhymes of the renegades

And all of the robbers who rode through hell

And danced on the rope when the gallows fell

Their demons are still with us

And the vigilantes do more evil than good

When they masquarade around like robin hood

And they ride at night to get us

From the owl whoot trails the shades

Come the rhymes of the renegades

And could it be true that some become outlaws

Holdin' on to the last to a long lost cause

Diggin' their grave with a silver spade

Singing hymes and rhymes to the renegades

Some call it a mystery when waco burns

From history they refuse to learn

They turn their backs 'till the movie deal's made

Deaf to the rhymes of the renegades

They'll burn down up to heaven and stay

Cause the raid out laws on the churches and banks

They enforce the laws that where tailor made

They won't hear the rhymes of the renegades

They ignore the dark side of humanity

They're living the illusion that were all free

They'll never know how many could be saved

From the lessons and the rhymes of the renegades