[Verse 1]
When I was but a small boy, pa bought me many books
About the creatures on the river banks, and the sins of old sea cooks
But the one I never left behind, were the old forgotten gains
Were the tale of wild and windy slopes about a man they called Will James

[Chorus]
And his race to reach the sun set was a high and lonesome time
Like a coyote always looking back he left no tracks behind
So I memorized these pictures and it's still the very best
If whiskey was his mistress his true love was the west

[Verse 2]
I remember up on dead man creek about 30 years and more
I hired on to break in colts which I'd never done before
Just a city kid, I asked myself Now what would Will James do
And you know it was the damnedest thing but it kind of got me through

[Chorus]