I rode a line on the open range When cow-punchin' wasn't slow I've turned the longhorn steer one way The other the buffalo I went up the trail in the eighties Oh the hardships I have stood I drank the water from cow-tracks boys When you bet it tasted good I've rode night guard many a night In the face of a drivin' storm And sang to them steers a doleful song As they rattled their hogs and horns I've been in many a stampede too I've heard the rumblin' noise And the light we had to turn them by Was the lightning on their horns But many a cowboy I rode with in Is sleepin' on old Boot Hill And the last cow drive was made to dodge On the Jones and Plummer trail They're building towns and railroads now Where we used to bed our cows And the man with the mule, the plow and how Is digging up our old bed ground The old cowboy has watched the change Seen the good times come and go But the old cowboy will soon be gone Just like the buffalo