Panhandle slim was the pride of the Plains, the crabapple of his mother's eye He grew like a weed in the West Texas rain, always reaching for the sky Sharp as a thorn on a prickly pear, Quicker than lightning on his legacy mare And at times more elusive than a panhandle bear And funnier than a jackalope The last out of seven birds of a Feather, the last with the family name So the young lonesome rooster roosted the Birdhouse, the loneliest roost on the range 'Cause horses need water and cotton needs rain Cowboys need love or they'll drive you insane It sure gets lonesome out here on the plains And it hurts to cry with dry eyes But if you ever see him, he'll tell you that he's doing fine As time goes by it slithers and frame starts To wither, but rust can't touch an innocent mind When you grow like a weed does on the West Texas plains, you'll learn to love sunshine Through tired eyes he dreams of girls From the city and the smell of myrtle perfume And he looks to the stars, He sings a few bars to the lonesome man in the moon How horses need water and cotton needs rain Cowboys need love or they'll drive you insane It sure gets lonesome out here on the plains And it hurts to cry with dry eyes But if you ever see him, he'll tell you that he's doing fine Slim's hat landed next to his jaw on The ground when he saw her walking his way With eyes like sapphire, She spoke to his soul without ever saying a thing A single sunflower at golden hour, Looking finer than a Georgia O'Keeffe When you grow like a weed in the west Texas plains you know how to turn a new leaf Just like horses need water and cotton needs rain Cowboys need love or they'll drive you insane It sure gets lonesome out here on the plains And it hurts to cry with dry eyes But if you ever see him, he'll tell you that he's doing fine Now these days when you see him, he'll tell you that he'd doing fine