As I walked out in the streets of Laredo   As I walked out in Laredo one day   I spied a poor cowboy wrapped up in white linen   All wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay      I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy   These words he did say as I proudly stepped by   Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story   I'm shot in the breast and I know I must die      It was once in the saddle, I used to go ridin'   Once in the saddle, I used to go gay   First lead to drinkin' and then to card playing   I'm shot in the breast and I'm dying today      Let six jolly cowboys come carry my coffin   Let six pretty gals come to carry my pall   Throw bunches of roses all over my coffin   Throw roses to deaden the clods as they fall      Oh, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly   And play the dead march as you carry me along   Take me to the green valley and lay the earth o'er me   For I'm a poor cowboy and I know I've done wrong      We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly   And bitterly wept as we carried him along   For we all loved our comrade so brave, young and handsome   We all loved our comrade although he done wrong