John Wesley Harding shot a man for snoring
Killed him in the bed right where he lay
He took a snort of whisky and went back to his sleepin
Rode out before they found him the next day

Now the brothers Frank and Jesse, no-one could be more fearsome
They robbed the trains and rode in the outlaw gangs
The civil war was over but still they fought for Dixie
And legend has their last name to be James.

Livin' in the west must have been the best
Must have been the greatest times of all
Me, I lived in the east and I was bored to say the least
But I never saw them sons of guns in bar-rooms starting brawls.

Little William Bonney, Billy the Kid they called him
Had to use a six-gun to survive
He bit the dust at twenty-one but he left a reputation
A notch for every year he was alive.

Livin' in the west must have been the best
Must have been the greatest times of all
Me, I lived in the east and I was bored to say the least
'Cause I never saw them sons of guns in bar-rooms starting brawls.

And now the frontier days are over for Billy and John and Jesse
And a thousand other bad guys of their day
But they still live on in story, and I hope they live forever
And to sum it up, here's all that I want to say.

Livin' in the west must have been the best
Must have been the greatest times of all
Me, I lived in the east and I was bored to say the least
'Cause I never saw them sons of guns in bar-rooms starting brawls.

Me, I lived in the east and I was bored to say the least
'Cause I never saw them sons of guns in bar-rooms starting brawls.