Jesse James is running and he'll never be at rest   Till the day they fold his arms across his chest   He's a long way from the cradle and his ma's authority      But it only seems a minute since he stood over his bed   And she tried to tell him something now what the hell was it she said   Jesse James is thinking of the breaks he never had   And the gene that cursed his blood group rhesus-bad      Jesse James lived money his account was in the black   Till the day he stopped a bullet with his back   Well the zip code may read Vegas but the heart beats tupelo      And a footstep is such a small thing that it's neither here nor there   Till you string those steps together and find home is way back   Way back where ?      Jesse James was never part of life's great symphony   All he heard were penny whistles out of key   Jesse James he promised I will never die afraid   That boy perjured every vow he ever made