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Then came West Virginia came Nevada and Nebraska |
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Colorado and Dakota, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming |
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And the West was opened up |
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And for ther first time it seems |
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That the nation was really conscious of itself as a nation |
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Railroad tracks crossed the land as did telegraph wires |
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Public opinion and great ideas were now reflected on a national basis |
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And never in this land before us and never more hereafter |
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Will a land know such a people as a man we call a cowboy |
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His hat and his bandana his unique brand of lingo |
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All his devil deeds of daring bold and skillful in the saddle |
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Brave and daring in the rambling wild and eager in exploring |
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Land that calls him with a challenge |
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But the land was already claimed by a people |
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When the cowboy came and when the soldiers came |
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The story of the American Indian is in a lot of ways a story of tragedy |
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Like that day at Wounded Knee South Dakota |
