Well, Clyde O'Reilly had so many virtues He'd have lived much longer with none I guess the only good thing that ever kept him alive Were the visions of a man from a son He worked the fields all day Till his face turned grey He never sold no more than ten bucks But his hand held the gun of a young man's gun And the old face just smiled and said Shucks You can take my cattle and my sheep man But when you're talking about my son Well, mister, there's no use in you talking When you're looking down the nose of my gun Well, the sheriff said: Reilly, you'd better hear me first Did your son ever tell you no lie? Well, if he didn't then you know about the bullet in the back Of a man who didn't even know why You can't hold back the arm of justice And a bullet won't stop, won't stop the law You can shoot down the men behind me But I cabled twenty more No man just lie, he said You can take my cattle and my sheep man But when you're talking about my son Well, mister there's no use in you talking When you're looking down the nose of my gun You can take my cattle and my sheep man But when you're talking about my son Oh mercy you ain't no judge and jury And on my land condemn no one Well, the boy won the fight and shot ten men Everybody wanted that boys head From town to town from state to state How a murder's reputation spread 'Cause you can't hold back the arm of justice And a bullet won't stop, won't stop the law You can shoot down the men behind me But I cabled twenty more You can take my cattle and sheep man But when you're talking about my son You ain't no judge and jury You ain't hanging any more That's what he said