Redwood Lyrics

Back in eighteen forty-nine

When the gold was pure and man's heart was not

Blood for blood

Revenge was on his mind

He woke up in the middle of the night

His Winchester by his side

Riding toward those California pines

Took him one month and ten days, sixteen hours, some minute-odd change

That's how long it took him to get there

Well, he road all day and he road all night

Tracked the bastard by the stars' light

That's what he called living on a prayer

And he sang

I didn't ride to the west coast to see my baby cry for her brother underneath these Redwood Pines

No, I didn't ride to the west coast to bring a man back alive

No, I came to avenge my brother-in-law's life

For seven days he waited out, that outlaw to return to town

Till one morn he appeared in the town square

He said, don't you know who I am?

You killed my brother-in-law

He was a good man

You took his life and drained him of his share

The outlaw said

You'll have to specify

Well, he wouldn't be the first to die

The bullets, I carry on this here belt

Lightning hands, two thunder cracks, smoke billowed, town stood aghast

As they waited for the hand that fate had dealt

And they sang

He didn't ride to the west coast to see his baby cry for her brother underneath these Redwood Pines

No, he didn't ride to the west coast to bring a man back alive

No, he came to avenge his brother-in-law's life

As the smoke cleared, both men were dead

Life trickled to the earth, a trail of red

And the roots of those old pines drank their fill

And that's how the trees got the name

To the core they were redwood stained

And that's the way they're known to this day still

And with his last breath, he croaked

I didn't ride to the west coast to see my baby cry for her brother underneath these Redwood Pines

No, I didn't ride to the west coast to bring a man back alive

No, I came to avenge my brother-in-law

My brother-in-law's life