(Nanci Griffith)

Oh, your golden lights of America,
Joseph sought your prairies and your buffalo.
And the humming of the rails down through Kansas,
They brought Joseph in from Baltimore.
The Cavalry, the Indians, and an old dan were his only friends.
Then the old dan died and the Indians' plight
Made the Cavalry young Joe's enemy.

Oh, the outlaws spilled the blood across the
Kansas plains back in the '70s.
Joseph took a badge for America
To defend you from your fantasies.
Joseph wore that badge across the Kansas
Prairies to save the railroads.
But the heroes that we made, well, they were
Ruthless soldiers who'd kill for gold.

With a broken heart for the frontier plains,
Joseph sat a-rocking in his front-porch swing.
That old tin badge is tarnished now,
You know it was just a young man's dream.
And old man's tales are hard to reach when you
Don't believe in your American Dream.
The Indians, the buffalo and old Joe Mason,
They died from memory.

Oh, your golden lights of America,
Joseph sought your prairies and your buffalo.
And the humming of the rails down through
Kansas, they brought Joseph in from Baltimore.
The Cavalry, the Indians, and an old dan...
Forsaken old man.

Oh, your golden lights of America.