Spanish Johnny

[Verse 1]
Those other years, those dusty years when we drove the big hearse through
I tried to forget the miles we rode and Spanish Johnny, you!
He'd sit beside a water ditch when all his herds was in
And he'd never harm a child but sing to his mandolin

[Verse 2]
He sang the old songs, the old talk, and the dealin' of our games
Spanish Johnny seldom spoke but sang the songs of Spain
And his talk with men was vicious talk when he was drunk on gin
But those were golden things he said to his mandolin

[Verse 3]
We had to stand, we had to judge, we had to stop him then
See those hands so gentle to a child had killed so many men
He died a hard death long ago before the roads came in
And the night before he swung, he sang to his mandolin

[Verse 4]
We carried him out in the morning light, the man who done no good
Laid him down in the cold, cold clay, stuck in a cross of wood
And then a letter we wrote to his kinfolks to tell 'em where he'd been
We shipped it on down to Mexico, along with the mandolin