I Remember Joe Lyrics - Ghost In The Music - Nanci Griffith

Oh, your golden lights of America 

Joseph sought your prairies and your buffalo 

And the humming of the rails down through Kansas 

They brought Joseph in from Baltimore 

The Cavalry, the Indians 

And an old dan were his only friends 

Then the old dan died and the Indians' plight 

Made the Cavalry young Joe's enemy 

Oh, the outlaws spilled the blood 

Across the Kansas plains back in the '70's 

Joseph took a badge for America 

To defend you from your fantasies 

Joseph wore that badge 

Across the Kansas prairies to save the railroads 

But the heroes that we made, well, they were 

Ruthless soldiers who'd kill for gold 

With a broken heart for the frontier plains 

Joseph sat a-rocking in his front-porch swing 

That old tin badge is tarnished now 

You know it was just a young man's dream 

And old man's tales are hard to reach 

When you don't believe in your American Dream 

The Indians, the buffalo and old Joe Mason 

They died from memory 

Oh, your golden lights of America 

Joseph sought your prairies and your buffalo 

And the humming of the rails down through 

Kansas, they brought Joseph in from Baltimore 

The Cavalry, the Indians, and an old dan 

Forsaken old man 

Oh, your golden lights of America