Come closer, my love
and I'll tell you a tale
It'll make you cold
It'll turn you pale
It's a tale of a man's
never ending love
and the long black rifle

He wed a woman
sworn to another
and, in a rage
the other man
Shot him down
with a long black rifle
shot him down
and away he ran

Now a prairie man
loved a city maid
Was the love he took
worth the price he paid
When a man ends up
at the smoking end
of a long black rifle

He wed a woman
sworn to another
and, in a rage
the other man
Shot him down
with a long black rifle
shot him down
and away he ran

Now his dyin' words
I repeat to you
You can never kill love
when your love is true
It lives when only
the rust is left
of the long black rifle

He wed a woman
sworn to another
and, in a rage
the other man
Shot him down
with a long black rifle
shot him down
and away he ran

© 1959