As I walked out on the streets of Laredo
As I walked out on Laredo one day
I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen
All wrapped in white linen, as cold as the clay

Then beat the drum slowly, play the Fife lowly
Play the dead march as you carry me along
Take me to the green valley, lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong"

Then go write a letter, and send it ti my gray haired mother
And please send the same to my sister so dear
But please not one word of all this would you mention
If my mother should as for my story to hear
There is another more dear than a sister
She'll bitterly weep
And if some other man ever wins her affection
Don't mention my name and my name will pass on

"Just beat the drum slowly, play the Fife lowly
Play the dead march as you carry me along
Take me to the green valley, 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
Six dance-hall maidens to sing me a song
Put bunches of roses all over my coffin
Roses to deaden the clods when they fall
"We beat the drum slowly, we play the Fife lowly
We bitterly wept as we bore him along
Down in the green valley, we lay the sod o'er him
He was a young cowboy and we know he'd done wrong


First to the card-house and then down to Rose's
And there stands his marker we made to this day