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North Dakota Lyrics
The boys from North Dakota
They drink whiskey for their fun
And the cowboys down in Texas
They polish up their guns
And they look across the border
To learn the ways of love
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, say I do
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, say I do
And you can say I love you
And you can say I do
So I drank myself some whiskey
And I dreamed I was a cowboy
And I rode across the border
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, take my hand
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, take my hand
And you can say I love you
And you can have my hand
I remember in the mornings
Waking up
With your arms around my head
You told me you can sleep forever
And I'll still hold you then
Now the weather's getting colder
It's even cold down here
And the words that you have told me
Hang frozen in the air
And sometimes I look right through them
As if they were not there
And the boys from North Dakota
They drink whiskey for their fun
And the cowboys down in Texas
They polish up their guns
And they look across the border
To learn the ways of love
They drink whiskey for their fun
And the cowboys down in Texas
They polish up their guns
And they look across the border
To learn the ways of love
If you love me, say I do
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, say I do
And you can say I love you
And you can say I do
And I dreamed I was a cowboy
And I rode across the border
If you love me, take my hand
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, take my hand
And you can say I love you
And you can have my hand
Waking up
With your arms around my head
You told me you can sleep forever
And I'll still hold you then
It's even cold down here
And the words that you have told me
Hang frozen in the air
And sometimes I look right through them
As if they were not there
They drink whiskey for their fun
And the cowboys down in Texas
They polish up their guns
And they look across the border
To learn the ways of love
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I think the chorus of this song talks about cowboys with lovers in Mexico, and possibly Canada. The song as a whole, though, is pretty clearly a love song, although the specific meaning is, to me, unclear. Any help?
I think this is one of Lyle's many love and love lost songs. If you look at the second half of the song, there is a definite indication of losing and failing the lover that was once there. And even after experiencing the loss, the cowboy still makes the same mistake by looking somewhere else for affection.
This is a hauntingly beautiful song, and like most songs, has deeply personal meanings to everyone who loves it. My take-away on it is of a sweet memory of love lost, its fleeting qualities and impermanence, and the back-to-earth reality, and futility, of trying to get regain some of those feelings.
This song is about the coldness of the United States. Both the boys in North Dakota and the cowboys in Texas have to leave the country in order to learn what love is. And the narrator, after trying distractions (whiskey and [dreaming about] guns) walks across the border as well. Pretty simple, actually.