Now old Jake was a cowboy he'd worked his whole life on the range And he could rope, and he could ride with any man just half his age Old Jake was my hero and me I was just a green kid And I prayed that someday I could do all the things old Jake did Well we sat around the bunk house one cold and lonely winter's night Just chewin' and talkin' and smokin' by the coal oil light Well old Jake had been aweful quiet that evenin' and he stared hard and long He said young puncher you goin' to remember me after I'm gone Whatever happens to old cowboy heros like me A broken down part of a man I used to be Will I be forgotten or live on in your memory Whatever happens to old cowboy heros like me
It's been a long time and oh how the years fade away Well I stopped by the bunk house were me and old Jake used to stay They say Jake died about ten years ago and they buried him out there on the plains Old friend you might be gone but your memory always stays the same Whatever happens...