The Lights of Cheyenne | James McMurtry

The Lights of Cheyenne - Written by James McMurtry/Ronnie Johnson Recorded Live August 27, 2022 McGonigel's Mucky Duck | Home of the Livest Music in Texas™ Become a supporting member at: https://livefromnorfolkstreet.com/ Lyrics: Look off down the highway at the glittering lights Like windshield glass on the shoulder tonight As the diesels come grinding on up from the plains All bunched up like pearls on a string And I guess time don't mean nothin' Not nothin' at all And out on the horizon the broken stars fall Old broken stars they fall down on the land And get mixed together with the lights of Cheyenne Well I've been up all night and I'm down on my back Workin' the counter to take up the slack 'Cause the money tree's light and the whiskey stream's low You ain't worked a week since July You say the gravel pit's hiring After the first But you don't have the nature for that kind of work You might get hired on But you won't make a hand And I'll still be here lookin' at the lights of Cheyenne You stand in the sky with your feet on the ground Never suspectin' a thing But if the sky were to move you might never be found Never be heard from again We go on good behavior when our youngest comes home She comes up from Boulder but she never stays long And that oldest still fights me like she was 18 Stopped in for a 6-pack awhile ago And she's got a cowboy problem And this last one's a sight All dressed up like Gunsmoke for Saturday night And they were off to the bars for lack of a plan Racing the stars to the lights of Cheyenne And you've kept all that meanness inside you so long You'd fight with a fence post if it looked at your wrong Well the post won't hit back, and it won't call the law I look at your right, or I don't look at all Now take a crumpled up soft pack and give it a shake Out by the dumpster on a cigarette break With one eye swelled up from the back of your hand And the other eye fixed on the lights of Cheyenne You stand in the sky with your feet on the ground Never suspectin' a thing But if the sky were to move you might never be found Never be heard from again Now there's antelope grazing in range of my gun Come opening weekend you won't see a one They'll vanish like ghosts 'cause somehow they know But now they're up to the fence in the early dawn And it's warming up nicely for this time of year The creeks are still frozen but the roads are all clear And I don't have it in me to make one more stand Though I never much cared f or the lights of Cheyenne

Added 5 Aug 2026