Jeremiah rode a buckin' horse It was an unchained natural force They took a free, unguided course And the rest was history
When all the girls in rodeo town Heard that he had fallen down You could almost hear the sound Of them fallin' to their knees The way night falls through the trees
There was a full moon shinin' bright Down at the old fairground one night Breakin' out of chute #1 was that old gray line-back dun The only bronc that Jeremiah never won
You couldn't hear a single breath Eight seconds was all he had left The one that threw him to his death Saw the crowd one more time
And I was only nine years old Still I shivered in that cold For I knew that he had sold his soul And left the rest of us behind Like beggars in the welfare line
Then they turned out all the lights Down at the old fairground that night The gate shut like the bullet of a gun On that old gray line-back dun The only bronc that Jeremiah never won
There were tears of joy and pain They'd never see that bronc again They'd never see the boy he killed Though I believe he's ridin' still
And where that old gray dun is now Nobody ever talks about But I think about him when they turn me out And my spurs sink in again When I ride I ride for him
When there's a full moon shinin' bright And it hits the old fairground just right Breakin' out of chute #1 It's Jeremiah and that old gray dun The only bronc he never won