Headed for Wyoming, in 1882

A woman, a team, and a wagon

Gonna make our dreams come trueSettled in the foothills of the big horn mountain slope

Life is sweet, we lived on the meat

Of the deer and the antelope

We cut house logs on the moutain

With the team we hauled ′em down

Peeled 'em and we stacked ′em up

House, and bought 'em ground

Traded for some cattle, turned 'em out on the range

The skies were blue and we never knew

How things were gonna change

Ol′ powder river, you′re muddy and you're wide

How many men have died along your shore?

When you brand a man a rustler, he′s gotta take a side

There's no middle ground in this Johnson County War

Well, the neighbors stopped by yesterday

While I was outside choppin′ wood

And they filled me in on the local news

Ain't none of it sounded good

Said, there′d been some cattle stealin'

By some no count outlaw bands

We'd all been branded rustler′s

By the big ranchers of this land

Well it was us against the cattlemen

And the years just made it worse

First the drought and then the tough winter

Johnson County had been dealt a curse

Then there came the story about the two dry Golgia tax

Ranger Jones and John Tisdale both shot in the back

Ol′ powder river, you're muddy and you′re wide

How many men have died along your shore?

When you brand a man a rustler, he's gotta take a side

There′s no middle ground in this Johnson County War

Then last night at supper time

Riders stopped by chance

They said the cattleman and their hired guns

Just burned the Kaycee ranch

Two men had died this mornin'

Shot down in the snow

Now the vigilante army was on the march to Buffalo

Well the county was in an uproar

And every man saddled up to ride

Caught the cattlemen at the TA ranch

And surrounded all four sides

We hailed the house with bullets

And swore they were gonna pay

But the calvery came across the plains

And once again they saved the day

Well, they marched ′em off to Cheyenne

And no one went to jail

The cattlemen were all turned loose

And the hired guns hit the trail

And I guess the only justice

Wasn't much to say the least

Last winter me and mine ate mighty fine

On the cattle baron's beef

Ol′ powder river, you′re muddy and you're wide

How many men have died along your shore?

When you brand a man a rustler, he′s gotta take a side

There's no middle ground in this Johnson County War

There′s no middle ground in this Johnson County War