[Intro] [Instrument: Solo acoustic guitar + lonely pedal steel swells] [Atmosphere: Howling wind, blowing dust] [Verse 1] [Energy: Medium] Got a price on my head from the company men back in town Stole their fastest rig and I never slowed down They said I’d choke in an hour once I crossed the line But I patched my mask with baling wire and spit, and I’m still doin’ fine Now I’m tearin’ across the red where no sheriff rides (red dust ridin’… ridin’ high) [Pre-Chorus] [Pedal Steel rising slow] They can fence a man in town, but they can’t fence the wind Once you’ve tasted this much nothing, you ain’t goin’ back again [Chorus] [Full Band, Thick Harmonies, Background Vocals] Ain’t no cage big enough, ain’t no fence gonna hold This hard-headed drifter gone dust-bowl cold From the big volcano to the polar dust ridge I’m gone like a storm, baby, leavin’ tracks they can’t read Ain’t no cage big enough — hell, even the red lets me breathe I was raised in a tin roof shack, but the open don’t need keys (let me breathe… let me breathe) (open don’t need keys… don’t need keys) [Post-Chorus] (whoop-whoop-whoop!) (Yee-haw!) (Outlaws ridin’… ridin’ the red) (Outlaws ridin’… never comin’ back) [Verse 2] [Energy: Medium] Got a worn-out Winchester and a half-tank of air Saloon in the lowlands still pours rotgut without a care There’s a woman in the settlement with rust-colored hair She said “come back inside the wire,” but inside ain’t fair So I kissed her through the glass one last sunrise Left my heart in her kitchen, but these boots had to go (had to go… had to go) [Pre-Chorus] [Banjo roll underneath] She called on the radio, “They’ll cut your air, you’ll die” I just laughed and floored it — “Darlin’, I’m already dry” [Chorus] [Energy: Higher] Ain’t no cage big enough (ain’t no cage big enough) Ain’t no company badge gonna drag me off this dust I’m half crazy, half whiskey, all pure cussed Through the canyons and the craters, still ridin’ free (ridin’ free…) If lovin’ you was a contract, I just tore it up with my teeth [Bridge] [Stripped to acoustic + weeping pedal steel, faint background harmonies] [Lower, almost spoken] Some nights when the wind screams and the frost hits the glass I hear her voice on the shortwave askin’ me to come back But back means collars and clocks and somebody else’s rules And I’d rather die out here lonesome than live like one of their mules (this red dirt’s my only woman now…) (only woman now) [Instrumental Break] [Pedal Steel Solo — long, lonesome, crying like a coyote] [Fiddle joins — wild and free] [Background Vocals hum the chorus melody under the solo] [Full band slams back in like a dust devil] [Final Chorus] [Energy: Explosive, stacked harmonies] Ain’t no cage big enough (ain’t no cage!) Ain’t no Earth-born lawman gonna rope this dust I’ll keep roamin’ these plains till my tanks turn to rust And when I go, bury me standin’ with a bottle and a rebel yell you can hear across the crust Ain’t no cage big enough, hell, even the sky needs room So I’ll die with my boots on… somewhere out past the moons [Outro] [Background Vocals echoing over fading wind] (Outlaws ridin’… ridin’ the red) (Outlaws ridin’… never comin’ back) (ain’t no cage… ain’t no cage…) (ain’t no cage big enough…) [Pedal Steel last long wail into wind] [Spoken soft] Catch me if you can, partner… I’m just dust you’ll never outrun. [Fade Out]
