One last ride

Verse 1

Leather's split across my knuckles, knuckles white against the reins

Forty years of dust and shadow running through these heavy veins

This old mare can feel the autumn shivering inside her chest

We both know the sun is dipping low into the fading west

One last time to cinch the cinch tight, one last time to test the leather

Before the winter locks the gate and seals us in this bitter weather

Chorus

But we’re gonna ride like the thunder’s rolling right behind

Gonna outrun the clock that’s ticking in my mind

The joints might ache, the eyes are growing dim

But we’ll push this mountain right up to the brim

If this is the final mile before the fire burns down to black

We’re going out in a blaze of glory, and we ain't looking back

Verse 2

The boys down at the feed lot say a man should know his place

Say the rocking chair is waiting, say I oughta slow the pace

But they don’t know the lightning that’s buried in this dirt

They don’t know the freedom that can wash away the hurt

So I’m kicking up the gravel, letting the engine of her heart roar

Showing this valley what a cowboy is damn well living for

Chorus

And we’re gonna ride like the thunder’s rolling right behind

Gonna outrun the clock that’s ticking in my mind

The joints might ache, the eyes are growing dim

But we’ll push this mountain right up to the brim

If this is the final mile before the fire burns down to black

We’re going out in a blaze of glory, and we ain't looking back

Bridge

It ain't the years that break you, it's the letting go of the reins

It's the quiet in the bedroom that brings the heaviest pains

So let the guitars scream out loud against the dying light

We’re giving Father Time a hell of a fight tonight

Guitar Solo

(Slow, weeping slide guitar that suddenly explodes into a fierce, distorted, soaring Southern-rock solo, full of heavy emotion and defiance)

Chorus

Yeah, we’re gonna ride like the thunder’s rolling right behind

Gonna outrun the clock that’s ticking in my mind

The joints might ache, the eyes are growing dim

But we’ll push this mountain right up to the brim

If this is the final mile before the fire burns down to black

We’re going out in a blaze of glory, and we ain't looking back

Outro

No, we ain't looking back

Just the horse and the highway

One last sunset

Let the engine fade

Let the dust settle down

(Fades out slowly on a single acoustic strum and a sustained, feedback-heavy electric guitar note)