Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Will James lyrics

When I was but a small boy, pa bought me many books About the creatures on the river banks, and the sins of ole 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 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 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 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