East to West
From the Songs & Stories album · Outlaw country · Talking-blues ballad
Demo recording
Produced with AI music tools, not performed by me or a band. The lyrics are mine, and a live version with real musicians is the next step.
A neo-western and an inspiring story of reinvention: a Canadian kid went west, got shot, buried his brother, then rode back east and made himself a New York sportswriter. Every word of it true.
Lyrics
Intro (spoken)
Here’s the story of Bat Masterson.
Thrived in the violent old west, and exited the stage alive.
Made himself a sportswriter back east.
If a man listens, and chooses wisely, he can live many a life.
Never stayed down.
Verse 1
The Garden lit up, blood on the mat
Dempsey crouched low ’n rolled the jab
Flashes cracked loud, takin’ Bat back west
Gunfire in Dodge, where he wore the badge
Verse 2
Lonesome at sunset
Watchin’ the daylight fade
Piano from the parlour
Carried to the street
Cowboy Capital was Dodge
Them cattle paid the way
Dust come with the money
And trouble rode beside
Money drew the gunmen
Gamblers and thieves
Bat ’n Wyatt kept watch
Front Street wouldn’t sleep
Chorus
From east to west
Ridin’ high till dawn
Them fellas were free
Free as the days were long
Verse 3
Spring night on Front Street
Piano playin’ on
Ed walked in the Lady Gay
To move two men along
A pistol pressed so close
It set his coat aflame
He made it ’cross the street
And that’s as far as he came
Bat came runnin’, pistol drawn
Put two men in the dirt
But his brother was gone
Sat with him till dawn
Back of Hoover’s bar
Front Street kept on drinkin’
And the piano played on
Verse 4
Wore the star a while
But it never sat the same
Cane from Sweetwater
And the town tired his name
A shot meant for the mayor
Took sweet Dora away
He ran down Spike Kennedy
And the score was paid
Turned the badge in that fall
And rode out of town
Ain’t much holds a man
With his people in the ground
Refrain
Life can turn
Before you know what happened
Leave you carryin’ less
Than when you began
You make do
With what trouble didn’t take
And you stay in your seat
While the credits run
The story ain’t over
Till the last reel’s done
Sometimes the win
Is to fight another day
Chorus
From west to east
Ridin’ on past dawn
He’s the last one free
Free as the days were long
Caught the eastbound rail
Cross’d back over the plains
Rolled into Manhattan
And let go of the reins
Verse 5
Gunslinger, buffalo hunter
Lawman ’n gambler
Went where the money went
A natural-born rambler
Hung up the six-gun
For a fountain pen
Ringside in Gotham
With the newspaper men
Lived more lives
Than most get to try
And kept on writin’
Till the ink ran dry
Outro
And if you reckon it’s over
But you’re still standin’
Think of Bat and ol’ Dempsey
Back at the Garden, still winnin’.
