Well you can′t expect a cowboy to educate a shank

In an ettequittish fashion under an aristocratic rank

Well he's often been accustomed to shake and heel and toe

At them racklin′ rancher dances where

that kinda etiquette it don't much go

So you could bet I had 'em laughin′

in this awkward sort of way

I had ′em yankin' up their squidders in excited sorta play

When I stumbled into Denver, perchance to take a prance

In the snoozin′ easy measures of a High-Tone Dance

When I got amongst the ladies

in their frocks so fleecy-white

And the dudes topped off in wrappins

that were truly outta sight

I tell ya what I got embarassed and I couldn't help but keep

From feelin′ like a burro in a flock of pretty sheep

And every step I took was ackward

oh I blushed so bloomin' red

Not dissimilar to the principle

decoration on a turkey-gobbler′s head

Well the ladies said 'twas seldom

that they'd truly had a chance

To see an honest-to-god-good-time-puncher

at a High Tone Dance

So I cut me out a heifer

(...)

So I cut me out a heifer from that flock of pretty girls

And I sidled up beside her just to dance that dreamy whirl

But I could feel my neck a′burnin′

from her nostrils breathin' heat

As she do-si-do′d around me she kept steppin' on my feet

And she gazed into my squinters

with a soul-dissolving glance

Twas quite conducive to the pleasures of a High Tone Dance

So when they struck the ′ol

cotillion of the music bill of fare

Every bit of peckerwood in me seemed to take out on a tear

I let out a cowboy war-whoop, and I commenced to rag

And I cut in with my trotters til the floor began to sag

And my partner unaccountably became seasick

And she clopped off for her seat

so I tried to rope the next one

But she dodged me, slick and neat

I tell ya what

I pulled the creases off their go-to-meetin' pants

When I put the cowboy trimmins on that High-Tone Dance