[Verse 1]
Way out on the windswept desert
Where nature favors no man
The buffalo found his brother
Restin' on the sun-baked sand
Now he said, my brother, "What ails you?
Has sickness got you this way?"
But his brother never said, for his brother was dead
Been dead since way last May

[Chorus]
Yo-de-lay, yo-de-lay, yo-de-lay, yo-de-lay

[Verse 2]
Chief Big Buffalo Nickel
A mighty man in his day
Never once used a sickle
To clear the bushes away
Now, he go ‘round from tent to tent
Eat everything in sight
He loved a squaw, every one he saw
He loved a new one every night

[Chorus]
Yo-de-lay, yo-de-lay, yo-de-lay
[Verse 3]
Way out on the windswept desert
I heard a big Indian moan
I left my tent, I knew what it meant
And I swore I’d never more roam
Now it was dawn when I reached safety
My legs were certainly sore
I must of lost desert ground
And I’d lose that many more

[Chorus]
Yo-de-lay, yo-de-lay, yo-de-lay