My daddy told me "Boy, you only shoot to kill" I'm livin' just for that thrill Nobody hurts me 'cos the payback's twice as bad In this town you don't make a man mad (1) Ted McKinley's dying At the wheel of his truck The engine running till it seized up And nobody heard a thing Not a shout or gun shot ring Just a smell of diesel in the dust (Diesel in the dust) McKinley wouldn't back down from any man alive But you need to if you're to survive The folks in town wanna settle their score By using their own kinda law (1) Repeat [INSTRUMENTAL] No one had seen a thing when the sheriff's car pulled in Just the silence you get from kin to kin The preacher bowed his head, glad that he was dead And the better the least that was said (1) Repeat In this town there was a man out on his own With no account of how he stood alone Nobody hear a thing, not a shout or gun shot ring Just the smell of diesel in the dust Diesel in the dust