Everyone’s heading out west
Governments giving land for free
Stake your claim as much as you want
As far as the eye can see
The Indians used to live here
But now they’ve gone away
Think they signed some sort of treaty
Or so the soldiers say
Found some arrowheads yesterday
Pulled them up with the plough share
Some little trinket things as well
Maybe some one buried them there
Western union
Western union
The wheels are not in tune
On western union
There’s an old painted pole in the water
Been chopped down that’s a shame
They say it’s called the roaring fork river
Wonder who gave it that name
The soldiers are repairing the fort
Up on the top plateau
The Indians aren’t coming back they said
Went away after signing the statute
You can see them if you ride further west
The government gave them a reservation
It’s a piece of land just for them
It’s nice for the Indian nation
Across the land
Two by two
Yellow bands
Soldier blue
Some keep running away
Don’t like it where they are
Soldiers fetch them back again
There’s not as many as there was before
They say the government took their land
Because they couldn’t read or write
The soldiers say they didn’t look after it
So it probably serves them right
A few days ride from here
Along part of the Colorado border
Farmer says he dug up a mass grave
While laying his cabin bearer
Western union
Western union
It’s all coming soon
On western union
He told the soldiers about it
They say it was some kind of malady
He says looked mostly like women and kids
The officer told him build further away
The man was a Frenchie from Europe
Said he’d been in wars before
It was not a plague that caused those deaths
Those soldiers know the score
He said he was going to see the governor
Cos he had a bad feeling about it
He went away and never came back
So we all kept our mouths shut
Across the land
Two by two
Yellow bands
Soldier blue
Maybe in years from now
Some one will sort it all out
That’s if there are any Indians left
Of that I very much doubt
Western union
One day there’ll be a reunion
Come the restitution
On western union
