From a carny show and a rodeo that shared a three-day stand
A cowboy met a fiery carny queen
In new spring nights amid the lights of the painted carny van

They laughed and loved and shared short-lived dreams
But the carny show and the rodeo went their separate ways
And the carny season bloomed and soon moved on
And I was born on a winter morn to the dark-eyed carny queen
The too-late son of something that was gone
The black-sheep child that grew up wild from the seed the four winds sowed
Unwanted son of ice and fire, an orphan of the road
I was still a child when my mama died of a chill that closed her eyes
So I was left to grow up on my own
Without a name, too wild to tame. No one cared to try
So mostly I was mostly left alone

In dingy bars and cold boxcars, hobo jungle camps
I joined the men who drift from town to town
The surging flood of restless blood flowed inside my veins
I´d never find the time to settle down
The black-sheep child
In the misty rain, I caught the train that slowed down through the town
And I pulled myself into the boxcar door
In a passing light in the deep gray night, I saw the still dark form
Of an old man lying sick upon the floor
And he said "I tried to find her, but they told me that she´d died
And that she´d left an only son behind
And I tried to find him, but I never did, but I know I could rest in peace
If I could just see him once before I die

I found a match and I quickly scratched it into a flicker and flame
Then I held it close and I gently raised his head
My mother, sir," I said of her, "I have her same dark eyes
He smiled a cowboy smile and then was dead
The black-sheep child