As They Did

I wish I could have seen it just as they did
Lookin over God’s country sittin top of a ridge
By the seat of a horse or an old wagon train
On that sea of prairie settin sail ‘cross the plains
Chasin the sun, headin westbound for more
Out where the mountains and the eagle do soar

Wish I’da seen the Missouri, before she was dammed
Before the sod was all busted and the train laid its tracks
When the range was still open and free from that wire
When the law was your own and guns were for hire
When thе great herds werе plenty and the Sioux followed close
They still danced round their fires, and the pipe was still smoked

But now all I see is a canyon that’s paved
And them faces they carved on the rocks that God made
The lights of the sky ain’t just moon, sun, and stars
And their promised land somehow became ours
Ohh what I’d give just for one glimpse
At the West that once was and the way life was lived