Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson (VH1 Storytellers)
(Ghost) Riders in the Sky Lyrics:
(GHOST) RIDERS IN THE SKY
Written by: Stan Jones-1948 [1]
Performed by: Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson
Appears on [2] : VH1 Storytellers-1998 (Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson)


[Applause.]
[Cash:] Hello, I'm Johnny Cash. And, uh...
[Nelson:] Hi, I'm Willie Nelson. What d'ya wanna do first?
[Cash:] Let's do uh...

[Nelson:]
An old cowpoke went ridin' out,
One dark and windy day.
[Applause.]
Upon a ridge he rested,
As he went along his way.
When all at once a mighty herd,
Of red-eyed cows he saw.
A-plowin' through the cloudy sky,
And up a cloudy draw.

[Cash:]
Their brands were still on fire
And their hooves were made of steel.
Their horns were black and shiny,
And their hot breath he could feel.
A bolt of fear went through him,
As they thundered through the sky.
He saw the Riders comin' hard,
And he heard their mournful cry.

[Both:]
Yippie-eye-aaaaay. Yippie-eye-oooooh.
Ghost Riders in the sky.

[Unplanned instrumental break featuring Nelson on the guitar while
he tries to think of the words to the next verse [3] .]

[Nelson:]
As the riders passed on by him,
He heard one call his name.
If you want to save your soul from hell,
A-ridin' on our range.
Then cowboy change your ways today,
Or with us you will ride.
[ Find more Lyrics on www.mp3lyrics.org/7dFE ]
Tryin' to catch the devil's herd,
Across these endless skies.

[Both:]
Yippie-eye-aaaaay. O-Yippie-eye-oooooh.
Ghost Riders in the sky.

(Take it, Willie.)

[Instrumental break.]

[Cash:]
Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred,
Their shirts all soaked with sweat.
He's ridin' hard to catch that herd,
But he ain't caught 'em yet.
'Cause they've got to ride forever,
On that range up in the sky.
On horses snortin' fire,
As they ride on, hear their cry.

[Both:]
Yippie-eye-aaaaay. Yippie-eye-oooooh.
Ghost Riders in the sky.
Ghost Riders in the sky.

[Nelson:] Laughs. Well we made it.
[Applause.]
[Cash:] Thank you.
[Nelson:] Hey, that's one. We got...ha, ha.
[Cash:] That's one. Yeah.
[Both laugh.]
[Cash:] We do that on the... We've done it on the Highwayman Show,
workin' with Willie and Waylon, Kris and myself and ah...
[Nelson:] It's been a while since we did a Highwaymen tour, you know.
We're, we're about due, I think.
[Cash:] It's hard to find all four of us.
[Laughter.]
[Nelson:] We never could find Waylon.
[Laughter.]
[Cash:] I love workin' with those criminals... I mean those guys. I really enjoy it.


[1] Stan Jones (1914 – 1963) was an American songwriter. His most famous
song was probably "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky." Writing almost entirely
in the genre of Western music, he penned songs for several Western
movies including The Searchers and Rio Grande.]

[2] This song first appeared on a record by Bing Crosby, called "Going my
Way," not to be confused with the movie of the same name from 1944.]

[3] In this, somewhat faithful to the original, version of the song.
Nelson actually misses the start of the third verse because he forgets
the words, and when he does start singing he sings the wrong verse (the
fourth). So when it's Johnny's turn, still sharp as a tack, he sings the
third verse, resulting in the third and fourth verses being switched on
this recording.]
Lyrics: (Ghost) Riders in the Sky, Johnny Cash & Willie
Nelson (VH1 Storytellers) [end]