[Verse 1]
Get out of the way, fat man, you got something to do
Go fill up your hands till they're shining up at you
You gotta get out while there's gold in the air
It's falling like water, coming down from the hills

[Verse 2]
Go west, young man
Earn a dollar a day, just like your family said
You're rolling your days right on into the night
The head of the line is going way out of sight

[Chorus]
Go west, young man, like your family said

[Bridge]
All along the wagons
All along the dusty trail
Seventeen years not over a day
Like children in the wild
Mother's milk still wet on your face
And no one to pray for your safe journey home
Out beyond the desert
Across the mountains by the falls
Servants who leave their master's house
Are walking all the way
The golden fields that beckoned you
Are darkened by the years
[Verse 3]
Go West young man
If you knew then what you know today
You'd be back where you started a happier man
And leave all the glory to those who have remained

[Chorus]
So go west, young man
Go west, young man, like your family said