When I was a young man in Sweetwater Texas Just one thing stayed on my mind To ride a white horse over Durango Mountain And leave Sweetwater Texas behind Well I turned twenty-one there in Sweetwater Texas And just one thing made me stay there I wanted to leave but I was in love with the girl with the chestnut brown hair Then there came a time when she said she be mine And go any place anytime So we rode a gray dog over Durango Mountain And left Sweetwater Texas behind It was thunderin' and lightin' when we left Nolan County And the bus rolled along through the night And ole thirty-six was a magic black demon leading towards the cities bright lights It was ten in the mornin' when we rolled in to Houston Our hopes where as high as the sky But hopes turned to weeks, then to years, and then forever I never knew how fast time goes by And there was cowboys sellin' cars and country girls in bars Somehow it just don't seem fair And I wanted to die 'cause I knew I was losin' The girl with the chestnut brown hair So many times I said I would rather be dead than to take downs to go to bed and ups to clear my head And if the good Lord see the way to let me live one more day I'm so tired of being alone Gonna ride a white horse over Durango Mountain And make Sweetwater Texas my home