Ride em, Bill
Words and music by Tom May


Written at the Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming, built by Buffalo Bill for his daughter, Irma, in 1902


Verse 1
The sandhills of Nebraska are lonely tonight
Cattlemen and fences rusting through the changing years
I wonder if Bill Cody came upon this very place
Would he recognize the west, today, if he suddenly appeared, in

Chorus
North Platte Nebraska; Cody, Wyoming; Sheridan hard by the Bighorns you loved
A buckskin blur with beaded gloves and a silver saddle
Buffalo Bill marked the end of a west that never was
But Ride em, Bill, ride, until the rockies turn to dust

Verse 2
How did you feel when you first crossed the great divide?
Scouting for an army that would change the land you loved
Where the Yellowstone river still runs free, wild and untamed
Did you marvel at the mountains high, and the million stars above?

Chorus
North Platte Nebraska; Cody, Wyoming; Sheridan hard by the Bighorns you loved
A buckskin blur with beaded gloves and a silver saddle
Buffalo Bill marked the end of a west that never was
But Ride em, Bill, ride, until the rockies turn to dust

Verse 3
From the cities of the East, to the toast of London town
The wild west show roped the life you loved, and rode it round
Duke Alexis, Chief Plenty-Coups, and Custer were your friends
But today they’re only footnotes, in the bookstores of the towns, of

Chorus
North Platte Nebraska; Cody, Wyoming; Sheridan hard by the Bighorns you loved
A buckskin blur with beaded gloves and a silver saddle
Buffalo Bill marked the end of a west that never was
But Ride em, Bill, ride, until the rockies turn to dust

Verse 4
Now there’s skiing in the rockies, and traffic in Yellowstone park
The Platte is dammed from Caspar to the wide Nebraska plains
But there’s still some space and beauty in the land you knew so well
The buffalo are returning, and the wind still blows the same, in

Chorus
North Platte Nebraska; Cody, Wyoming; Sheridan hard by the Bighorns you loved
A buckskin blur with beaded gloves and a silver saddle
Buffalo Bill marked the end of a west that never was
But Ride em, Bill, ride, until the rockies turn to dust

Buffalo Bill is ridin’ still, take me with you, saddle up!

©1996 Blue Vignette Publishing, ASCAP