Oh brother let me take my rest
And leave this wild and wicked west
Where the river runs red with blood
Until it all dries up and turns to mud
I heard you shot a lawman down
At a card game south of Oakland town
A Russell city marshall dead
All the California papers read
You know by now they've seen your face
Dead or alive it's a thousand dollar race
With dust in your eyes it's hard to see
Oh brother I come to take you home with me
Well it didn't seem that long ago
You were breaking ground in Calico
But a miner's life just wouldn't hold
For a gamblers heart will never fold
Yeah so you headed out to 'Frisco bay
Where the miner's gambled all their pay
But you're never one to settle down
You just dealt your hand from town to town
A gamblers heart is bound to roam
Wherever you hang your hat is home
If I ever leave this broken land
I'll be headed home for Alabama
Where the honeysuckle smells so sweet
And the moonshine knocks you off your feet
I dreaming out of my bellows bed
And a feathered pillow 'neath my head
And I say a prayer for my brother Jack
'Cause I know now he ain't coming back
I know right now it's plain to see
Oh brother I only want you to be free
With dust in your eyes it's hard to see
And rust in your skies it's hard to breathe
Oh brother I only want you to be free
Oh brother I only want you to be free
Oh brother let me take my rest
And leave this wild and wicked west
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