Lyrics

The Near Salvation of Butch Cassidy
Robert Leroy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy,
Had robbed 2 trains, 2 banks and a mining company by the time he was 33 years old
In the summer of 1900 he requested a meeting with the authorities
To discuss the possibility of amnesty in exchange for him swearing off his outlaw ways
This song is about that summer and the near salvation of Butch Cassidy

I'm up here in Wyoming a place they call Lost Soldier Pass
Waiting on them lawmen to save me or kill me at last
I'm good with either I made peace with my conscience but I'm running low on whiskey and patience
All damn day I watched this storm roll across the Big Horn
With every drop of rain, every gust of wind, deeper goes the thorn
I scrawled them a note, though I ain't much for prose or rhyme.
"They can all go to hell and wait for me this time."

I'm goin' to the hole in the wall, meet up with the gang
I'm gonna make them lawmen wish they never heard my name

I ride down into Lander as the light begins to fade, retribution playing in my mind 100 different ways
They can put me in chains, they can lay me on a cooling board but I won't be played a fool and I won't be ignored
I ain't ever shot a man and that's the truth of it but right about now it's taking all I got to keep my gun on my hip
Off in the distance I hear a train whistle blow, I snap my reigns and down the trail I go

I'm goin' to the hole in the wall, meet up with the gang
I'm gonna make them lawmen wish they never heard my name

One month after his failed attempt at a pardon
Butch and his boys robbed Union Pacific No 3 out of Tipton, Wyoming
Shortly thereafter, Butch and his longtime associate, Harry Longabaugh, also known as the Sundance Kid
Boarded a steamship for South America
They lived a peaceful life down there for nearly seven years
Until the itch became too much and they robbed a silver mine high in the Andes Mountains
The Bolivian Army hunted Butch and Sundance like dogs
Until they were surrounded in a boarding house in a town called San Vicente
It was there, in the early morning hours of November 7, 1908, that Butch Cassidy drew his last breath

I'm goin' to the hole in the wall, meet up with the gang
I'm gonna make them lawmen wish they never heard my name