I wish I could have seen it just as they did
Lookin' over God's country sittin' top of a ridge
By the seat of a horse or an old wagon train
On the sea of prairie settin' sail 'cross the plains
Chasin' the sun, heading westbound for more
Out where the mountains and the eagle do soar
Wish I'da seen the Missouri before she was dammed
Before the sod was all busted and the train laid its tracks
The range was still open and free from that wire
When the law was your own and guns were for hire
The great herds were plenty and the Sioux followed close
Still danced around their fires and the pipe was still smoked
But now all I see is a canyon that's paved
And them faces they carved on the rocks that god made
The lights of the sky ain't just moon, sun and stars
And their promised land somehow became ours
Oh, what I'd give just for one glimpse
At the west that once was and the life was lived