Will I ever reach Laredo
Will I ever hold you close
Just a traveler in a suitcase
On a dangerous stretch of rope
Will I ever reach Laredo
With this gun crooked to my breast
Oh our love is a withering rose
But a rose nonetheless
And I, I see the glimmering light of a distant city
Though I know it ain't the one
And I, I see the glimmering light
But I have to pass it by
That ain't the one
Will I ever reach Laredo
By this strangely tinted moon
It's not the red of the robin
Nor the red of the robin's womb
It's not the red of the deathless stage
Nor the red that paints the west
It's not the red of a withering rose
But a red nonetheless
And I, I see the glimmering light of a distant city
Though I know it ain't the one
And I, I see the glimmering light
But I have to pass it by
That ain't the one
