[Intro | mournful trumpet | flugelhorn | twangy surf rock electric guitars] [Verse 1 | male baritone vocal | raspy, weathered vocal] I rolled in at dusk / Past the cracked ticket gate / Ferris wheel froze up high / Like a hangman’s bait / My map said “fun” / My boots said “run” / A painted sheriff waved / With a six-shooter held high / [Instrumental Interlude | jaw harp | banjo] [Verse 2] The midway bled rust / From a clown-faced train / Cobwebs on the tilt-a-whirl / And a buckled sign in brown grass / Then I saw them, lined up / In the boardwalk caked in dust / Cyber-stetson hats, glass eyes / And holsters at the hip / [Instrumental Build | twangy electric guitar | banjo flourishes] [Pre-Chorus] I raised my little camera / Hands shook in the glare / A bandit tipped his visor / Like he knew I was there / One said, “Stranger, stay” / With a jaw made of gears / I tasted iron in my mouth / And I saw my fears / [Chorus] Red rage robot rodeo / (Let me go) / Cybernetic cowboy rodeo / Cut, then run / (ride it out) / Cowboy robot's gonna draw / My gun's faster / Watch them fall / [Verse 3] I ducked by the arcade / With its broken bells / Prize stuffed bears half-melted / In their plastic shells / A robot preacher wheezed / From a chapel booth / Said, “Confess your name” / Through a mouthful of screws / [Verse 4] Bandits on molten silver horses / Came tearing through the smoke / They fired shots from pistols / At my jacket and through my smokes / I crawled through cotton candy / Stuck to my face and knife / Kept my notes in my boot heel / To prove I lived this wild ride / [Pre-Chorus] I raised my little camera / Caught a grin of steel / The sheriff’s hand came down / Like a closing mill / One said, “Stranger, stay” / Then the whole town turned / I ran past the gift shop in flames / And the old floor boards burned / [Chorus] Rage robot rodeo / (Let me go) / Cybernetic cowboy rodeo / Cut, then run / (ride it out) / Cowboy robot's gonna draw / My gun's faster / Watch them fall / [Bridge] At the back of the park / By the busted train tracks / I found the control room / All caved in and cracked / Windows covered with caught tumbleweed / Through the window, a rosewood box of keys / The town kept running / Though nobody lived here / I sent one last message / With a trembling thumb / Then the gate groaned open / And the night said / Run / [Final Chorus] Red robot rodeo / (Let me go) / Cybernetic cowboy rodeo / Cut, then run / (ride it out) / Cowboy robot's gonna draw / My gun's faster / Watch them fall / [Outro | trumpet | flugelhorn] If you find my trail / Past the burned-out sign / Tell ’em I saw the uprising first / Near the mouth of a gold mine / And if that town still wakes / When the thunder rolls / Keep your horse pointed home / And your name / A secret unspoken / [End]
