Where did you come from and where did you go?
The rattlers are still and the ashes are cold
The stage, it is empty; the Union Halls, dark
And the lights are so bright that I can't see the stars
Ain't no heaven and hell in the Great By-And-By
Where the dead they are laughing, singin' and spillin' their wine
Seattle to Spokane, Missoula to Butte:
The spare-changer's stories so boring and true
Now the world ain't so lonesome without you around
Hey, tell me, where can you camp where you can't hear a sound?
Ain't no heaven and hell in the Great By-And-By
Where the dead they are laughing, singin' and spillin' their wine
Oh, the stories we'll tell on our last and long ride
Where the dead they are laughing, singin' and spillin' their wine
Now that God's gone and the Devil's in a hole
It's Aces, Straights, Flushes with Johnny and Joe
No masters, no Yard Bulls to chase a boy down
He's gone to where the bums go when they're run out of town
Ain't no heaven and hell in the Great By-And-By
Where the dead they are laughing, singin' and spillin' their wine
Say "So Long" to the rails, from the sage to the pine
While the dead they are laughing, singin' and spillin' their wine
Oh, the stories we'll tell on our last and long ride
Where the dead they are laughing, singin' and spillin' their wine
Where do you come from and where did you go?