You are the Wild Eden, salt wilderness
Lawless, flawless, a perfect mess
Boundless, townless, I must confess
All I can do is dream of the west
Heard you can turn a dreamer into a man of means
With your golden shores and generous streams
I heard even the poor can dive for a pearl
How can I resist your western world?
So I made hundreds of sails and hardly scraped the pith
From the Verazano to the Admiral Smith
My destiny to manifest
I'll load up these wagons and light out west
Your skies are wild and stunning, I'm lost for sure
But I'm young and gunning, think I found a cure
I'll lay down this blanket and a prayer for you
There's just no telling what time will do
Came as a million-footed, pale-skinned ravager
On a mission from God, just a passenger
I cracked my whips and the church bells sang
Well-equipped to stake a claim
But sometimes dreams come true like a funhouse mirror
'Til you ain't you, but your greatest fear
I stole you away from Mexico
Told you to pray, to save your soul
Shot your buffalo and sold their skin
Scraped your skies and fenced you in
There's nothing I would not do to win
And now your body's on fire, smoke fills the air
Our home is a pyre, we ain't goin' nowhere
The rent gets higher, the work is gone
Tell me darlin' where it went wrong
You were the Wild Eden, salt wilderness
Lawless, flawless, a perfect mess
Boundless, townless, where gold unfurled
Is this the end of the Western World?