To the rich manÂ's bright lodges I ride in this wind   On my good horse I call you my shiny Black Bess   To the playhouse of fortune   to take the bright silver   An gold you have taken from somebody else      And as we go riding in the damp foggy midnight   You snort, my good pony, and you give me your best   For you know, and I know, good horse   Â'mongst the rich ones   How oftimes we go there an unwelcome guest      IÂ've never took food from the widows and orphans   And never a hard working man I oppressed   So take your pace easy,   for home soon like lightening   We soon will be riding, my shiny Black Bess      No fat rich manÂ's pony can ever overtake you   And thereÂ's not a rider from the east to the west   Could hold you a light   in this dark mist and midnight   When the potbellied thieves   chase their unwelcome guest      I donÂ't know good horse,   As we trot in this dark here   That robbing the rich is for worse or for best   They take it by stealing and lying and gambling   And I take it my way, my shiny Black Bess      I treat horses good and IÂ'm friendly to strangers   I ride and your running makes my guns talk the best   And the rangers and deputies   are hired by the rich man   To catch me and hang me, my shining Black Bess      Yes, theyÂ'll catch me napping one day   and theyÂ'll kill me   And then IÂ'll be gone but that wonÂ't be my end   For my guns and my saddle will always be filled   By unwelcome travellers and other brave men      And theyÂ'll take the money and spread it out equal   Just like the Bible and the prophets suggest   But the man that go riding to help these poor workers   The rich will cut down like an unwelcome guest