In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo as I walked out in Laredo one day
I spied a young cowboy wrapped up in white linen
Wrapped up in white linen as cold as the clay
I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy
These words he did say as a police stepped by
Come side down beside me and hear my sad story
I'm shot in the chest and I know I must die
It was once in the saddle I used to go dashing
It was once in the saddle I used to go gay
First to the drum house and then to the courthouse
Got shot in the chest and I'm dying today
Oh beat the drum slowly play the fife lowly play the dead march as you carry me along
Take me to the green valley there lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin get six pretty maidens to bear up my pall
Put bunches of roses all over my coffin but roses to deaden the sod as they fall
Then swing your ropes slowly and raddle your spurs lowly
And give a wild yell as you carry me along
And in the grave throw me and rove the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
Go bring me some water a cup of cold water
To cool my parched lips the cowboy then said
Before I return his soul had departed and gone to the roundup the cowpoke was dead
We beat the drum slowly we play the fife lowly we bitterly weep as we carry him along
We take him to the green valley there lay the sod o'er him
Just the young cowboy that surely done wrong
I spied a young cowboy wrapped up in white linen
Wrapped up in white linen as cold as the clay
I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy
These words he did say as a police stepped by
Come side down beside me and hear my sad story
I'm shot in the chest and I know I must die
It was once in the saddle I used to go dashing
It was once in the saddle I used to go gay
First to the drum house and then to the courthouse
Got shot in the chest and I'm dying today
Oh beat the drum slowly play the fife lowly play the dead march as you carry me along
Take me to the green valley there lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin get six pretty maidens to bear up my pall
Put bunches of roses all over my coffin but roses to deaden the sod as they fall
Then swing your ropes slowly and raddle your spurs lowly
And give a wild yell as you carry me along
And in the grave throw me and rove the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
Go bring me some water a cup of cold water
To cool my parched lips the cowboy then said
Before I return his soul had departed and gone to the roundup the cowpoke was dead
We beat the drum slowly we play the fife lowly we bitterly weep as we carry him along
We take him to the green valley there lay the sod o'er him
Just the young cowboy that surely done wrong
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
Streets of Laredo Lyrics as written by Buck Owens
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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