She was painting a picture of slum life When the cowboy came limping by Wearing tattered old boots with one sole gone And a faraway look in his eye ♪ Well he watched for a while as she painted And then he said, "Ma'am, you surely paint well Yes, you've got all this on your canvas The dirt, the squalor and the hell"
Well she asked to paint him in the setting Ah but he shook his head slowly and low He said, "Naw, I won't fit your picture Unless you can paint me back home" Can you paint me back home in Wyoming? Riding free 'neath the big sky above Free as the wind on the prairie Out in the hills that I love I long to get back to Wyoming And I've hoped all these years that I can Please paint me back home on your canvas Paint me back in Wyoming again Well I never claimed this festered city You know I was raised on a ranch out in the west I spent my young years bustin' horses And boy they said I could ride with the best ♪ So I came here to Madison Square Garden To ride in the big rodeo Ah but I got stepped on and all crippled up And chute bronc bustin' is all I know
Ah boy, if I could just get back to Wyoming I wouldn't feel so alone Ah but the pain is too much for the roamin' So please can you paint me back home? Can you paint me back home in Wyoming? Riding free 'neath the big sky above Free as the wind on the prairie Out in the hills that I love I long to get back to Wyoming And I've hoped all these years that I can Please paint me back home on your canvas Paint me back in Wyoming again