Wild West Lyrics

(words and music by Joe Jackson)

Out to the west there's a trail that leads somewhere
And a call of the wild that takes some people there
Through Monument Valley to California sun
From New Amsterdam to the Way the West Was Won

Well, years will go by when you won't get nowhere
You're cold and you're tired and you're free and you don't care

You keep pushin' on when your friends keep turning back
And you keep building towns and laying railroad track
And things get crazy and you have to use that gun
And you wonder if this is the way the west is won

But keep thinkin' that way and you won't get nowhere
'Cause you got a right just to get where you're goin' to
Gotta keep runnin' gotta be the best
Gotta walk tall in the wild west

You keep on the move or you try to settle down
And there's strangers from further and further away in town
And you give them some tools and they know what must be done
And you know who's the boss and you know the west was won

And they say...
Where I come from you can't get nowhere
I'm breaking my back for some opportunity
Making my fortune and I'll take it all home
Tell my kids about the wild west

But there's still beauty as the flowers bloom on desert sands
And there's still hope as the sun rises over the Rio Grande
But it's so crowded now and nothing's simple any more
And they're still knocking at your door

You hear guns in the night and you hope they're not for you
'Cause a dog eats a dog then he eats his master too
In the land of the free and the not so often brave
There's both love or money, now choose which you will save

But... keep thinkin' that way and you won't get nowhere
'Cause you got a right just to get where you're goin' to
Gotta keep runnin' gotta be the best
Gotta walk tall in the wild west 

(C) 1986 Pokazuka Ltd. (ASCAP)