Old Bill Pickett's gone away, over the great divide

To the place where all the preachers

say both saint and sinner abide

If they check his brand like I think they will

It's a runnin' horse they'll give to Bill

Herd his steers 'til he gets his fill

And a great big crowd to watch him ride

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

He left me here to sing this song

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

Left me here to sing this song

Old Bill Pickett was a mighty black man

and he rode for the one-oh-one

Way down in Comanche land where they say the west was won

He'd jump a steer from a runnin' hoss

Throw it down with a mighty toss

Works for many but he had no boss

The last of the great cow hands

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

He left me here to sing this song

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

Left me here to sing this song

Now way down south in Mexico he took a great big dare

To try to toss a fighting bull just to see how he might fare

He grabbed El Toro by the horns

Put the bull's nose in his jaws

That crowd never seen such a thing before

For an hour and a half they cheered

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

He left me here to sing this song

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

Left me here to sing this song

With the great Will Rogers

and wild Tom Mix he rode in the rodeo

And all that paid their fifty

cents would get a great big show

Yeah all that had two bits could see

Bill wrestle steers with his teeth

We'll never see such a mighty feat

'Cause he left us long ago

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

Left me here to sing this song

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

Left me here to sing this song

It was way down on the Miller ranch in the year of '32

Bill Pickett roped a sorrel stud

just to see what he could do

And that sorrel stud he pitched and bucked

Stomped Bill's body in the dust

At seventy-three he was out of luck

Took eleven days to die

There was nothing they could do

They laid Bill down in a six-by-three

beneath the land he knew

And the head they placed across

said "of his kind we've seen few"

And 'round the fire they drank some wine

And old Zach Miller wrote these lines

Left 'em there for me to find

And put to music and sing to you

How Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

He left us here to sing this song

Old Bill Pickett's a long time gone

Left us here to sing this song