Three black coats at the edge of town Dust on the boots, guns hanging down Horseflies circle the saloon glass Nobody moves when the church bell cracks I took one drink, I took one chair Three cold rifles waiting there The bartender watched the mirror behind I smiled like a man with nothing to find They don't know Which hand holds the match They don't know How little it takes to make the whole thing catch Let them tear each other apart I'll walk through the smoke when the shooting starts A fistful of iron, a mouth full of dust They built their kingdom on blood and rust Let the bell keep calling my name Let every bullet decide who remains I came with nothing I'll leave with the town When the last gun speaks I'll be the last one down Coins on the table, blood on the floor One man swears he can buy the war Another keeps count of the bodies outside While I sell them a reason to bury their pride The mule kicks hard at the stable door A widow is waiting by the general store I hear spurs scrape across the boards Then the whole damn street goes quiet once more They don't see The wire beneath their feet They don't hear The rhythm underneath Let them tear each other apart I'll walk through the smoke when the shooting starts A fistful of iron, a mouth full of dust They built their kingdom on blood and rust Let the bell keep calling my name Let every bullet decide who remains I came with nothing I'll leave with the town When the last gun speaks I'll be the last one down One for the money One for the dead One for the man Who should've stayed in bed No horse No flag No grave with my name Just dust in my teeth And a hand on the blade You wanted a war So I gave you a road You wanted a king So I lightened the throne Four men One street One breath Then silence Let them tear each other apart I'll walk through the smoke when the shooting starts A fistful of iron, a mouth full of dust They built their kingdom on blood and rust Let the bell keep calling my name Let every bullet decide who remains I came with nothing I'll leave with the town When the last gun speaks I'll be the last one down FOUR MEN ONE STREET ONE BREATH THEN VIOLENCE Now watch the horizon Watch what comes through The stranger you hunted Is standing with you No mercy in daylight No shelter at night You made me the weapon Now watch me decide Let them tear each other apart I'll walk through the smoke when the shooting starts A fistful of iron, a mouth full of dust They built their kingdom on blood and rust Let the bell keep calling my name Let every bullet decide who remains I came with nothing I'll leave with the town When the last gun speaks I'll be the last one down Three black coats A road gone red Dust settles slowly Over the dead

They broke my hands on the Rojo floor Then shipped me out in a box of pine Coffin-maker kept the lid nailed loose And through the slats I watched the Baxters die Kerosene on the rafters Men at every door They ran out coughing to the yard And didn't run no more Aim for the heart Aim like you mean it this time Empty every round you own Watch it flatten on the iron Hands wrapped in rags down a caved-in shaft Knuckles split and splinted with twine Hammer on steel till my shoulder burns Beating out a heart he can't find Word came up the ridge They strung Silvanito high Wrists tied to a beam Now it's my turn to ride Aim for the heart Aim like you mean it this time Empty every round you own Watch it flatten on the iron Short fuse on a stick of dynamite The plaza lifts and hangs there brown I come walking out with the poncho down Every Rojo blinking like they've seen me die Aim for the heart Aim like you mean it this time Empty every round you own Watch it flatten on the iron LOAD IT Load it, go on Rifle in the dirt between us First hand to the chamber lives Aim for the heart Both houses burnt down to the frame Esteban folded on the rail Not a soul left on either side to pay Tell the coffin-maker (he's gonna need more pine)

Some fool put two zeroes Beside the number on the page Thinks a bigger price beneath his face Might make him harder to erase I fold the paper at the eyes And tuck it inside my coat A thousand printed at the fold Is all I really need to know Name Description Where he fled Some men spend their whole lives Trying to be worth more dead Put a number on your head Pin your picture to the wall Someone always names the price Someone always comes to call You can bargain with the sheriff You can disappear instead But paper travels farther And you're worth more dead Five cards spread beneath his hand Two thousand printed by his face He watches every swinging door But never mine until too late The dealer doesn't touch the deck A glass stops halfway to his teeth I lay the folded paper down And let him read his own receipt Name Description Where he fled Ink can turn a breathing man To a payment not yet made Put a number on your head Pin your picture to the wall Someone always names the price Someone always comes to call You can bargain with the sheriff You can disappear instead But paper travels farther And you're worth more dead The sheriff counts them one by one Straightens every folded bill His fingers stop at one thousand Mine are resting perfectly still Behind him twenty faces wait Each carrying a price I take the largest from the wall Don't need to read it twice Fold the corner Mark the trail Find the room Collect the sale PAPER PRICE PICTURE NAME EVERY MAN REDUCED THE SAME How much are you worth? Put a number on your head Pin your picture to the wall Someone always names the price Someone always comes to call Bribe the badge or cross the border Run until your lungs give out The paper never needs to hurry It already knows your route Another face Another town Another number Still unpaid

You wind it slow before you draw The lid swings open on her face You never listened to the tune You only used it to keep pace There's another one Ticking in my coat Winding it for years For the debt you owe Hold still till the chime runs out Let her sing it all the way through You took the only song she had I came to take it back from you The kid shot my hat along the boards I kept his dancing in the air Two men too good to waste on each other Went after bigger game elsewhere He called me old man Never asked me why Let him keep the money I'll keep the time Hold still till the chime runs out Let her sing it all the way through You took the only song she had I came to take it back from you Your portrait's gone brown at the edges I'm the only one who aged I wind the spring so you keep singing In rooms I rented by the day Your tune's half gone and my gun's in the weeds Then the kid walks up with the other one open Drops a gunbelt at my feet LET HER REST Hold still till the chime runs out She got to sing it all the way through I'm taking back the one you stole Keep the money, kid. It's all for you Both of them ticking in my coat now Playing the same song

A rope around my throat at noon Your rifle watching from the hill You cut me loose to watch me run Then leave me underneath the sun I crawl until the sky turns white With every step I make a vow You took the water and the horse But I know what you're hunting now You know the place I know the name Neither one gets rich alone You hold half the map I hold what you need Neither one gets rich alone So neither one can leave Put a mile between our shadows Keep your rifle at my back You'll come looking when you realize I'm the half you never had I find you half alive again A carriage rattling through the heat One hand shaking at the reins One boot dragging at your feet I could finish what you started Let the desert close your eyes Instead I give you just enough To keep you breathing for the ride You know the place I know the name Funny how the balance changed You hold half the map I hold what you need Neither one gets rich alone So neither one can leave Put a mile between our shadows Keep your rifle at my back You'll come looking when you realize I'm the half you never had Blue lines hold one bank of the river Gray lines bleed across the other Night sends more men to the crossing Dawn sends fewer back for cover Captain says the war won't move While that bridge is standing there Men keep dying for a few more yards For ground that neither side can spare For once the world gets bigger Than the fortune at the end We send the crossing to the river And let the wounded sleep again Leave me in the sand You came back Take the horse and run You came back Put your hand beside your gun Not yet Think we're even? Not yet Keep riding. I still need you. You hold half the map I hold what you need Neither one gets rich alone So neither one can leave We've crossed a war to reach the answer Now there's nowhere left to run Keep your hand close to your holster This arrangement's almost done You know the place I know the name Neither one says What happens when they meet

Wooden crosses to the ridge He runs the rows, hat in his fist Mouthing every board he passes Every soldier on the list He finds Arch Stanton's board Claws at it bare-handed I drop a shovel at his knees Let him think it's his Every one of us came to kneel At a grave that says Unknown The gold don't care who buried it Or who carries it home Angel Eyes comes over the rise Pale as a Sunday collar, slow I scratch a word on a flat gray stone And set it where they'll have to go Nobody slept last night Coals burned down to gray Tuco kept his gun in his lap I let it lay Every one of us came to kneel At a grave that says Unknown The gold don't care who buried it Or who carries it home Stone floor round as a silver dollar Graves climbing every side Three of us and a rock in the middle Each of us deciding who dies Tuco wipes his palm across his shirt Angel Eyes won't blink I never look at the rock He folds back into an open grave Tuco pulls on an empty gun I emptied it beside the coals Every one of us came to kneel At a grave that says Unknown One of us went in the ground One of us is riding home Tuco on a cross with his hands tied back Half a mile out I turn in the saddle One shot. The rope parts clean His cussing chases me over the hill Then the wind fills in my tracks