The good times scratched a laugh from the lungs of a young man
In a Deadwood saloon South Dakota afternoon
And the old ones by the door with their heads to their chests
They told lies about whiskey on a woman's breast
Some tell the story of young Mickey Free
Lost an eye to a buck deer in the Tongue river valley
Some tell the story of California Joe
He sent word that the Black Hills they was a mountain of gold
And the gold she lay cold in their pockets
And the sun she sets down on the trees
And they'll thank the Lord for this land that they live in
Where a white man well he does as he pleases
Some flat shoed fool from the east come a running
With some news that he read in some St Joseph paper
And its drinks all around cause the news he's a telling
Is the one they call crazy has been caught and been dealt with

And the Easterner he reads the news from the paper
And the old ones draw nearer so that they can hear better
Well it says here that Crazy Horse was killed while he was trying to
escape
Says is was sometime last September and don't give the exact date
And the gold she lay cold in their pockets
And the sun she sets down on the trees
And they'll thank the Lord for this land that they live in
Where a white man well he does as he pleases

Then the talk turned back to whisky and women
Cold nights on the plains lord fighting the Indians
The Easterner says he'll have one more before he goes
He gives up the paper to the Crow boy sweeps up the floor
And the gold she lay cold in their pockets
And the sun she sets down on the trees
And they'll thank the Lord for this land that they live in
Where a white man well he does as he pleases