[Verse 1] They gathered at the ranch with their rifles in hand, Young men with warrants and blood on the land. Tunstall lay buried beneath New Mexico clay, And somebody somewhere was gonna have to pay. They pinned on their badges, they saddled their rides, Called themselves law with revenge in their eyes. Billy pulled his hat low and tightened the reins — Justice and vengeance were starting to look the same. [Pre-Chorus] Saddle up, boys, There's a debt coming due. They spilled Tunstall's blood... Now we're coming for you. [Chorus] Regulators — ride! Let the whole county know. Regulators — ride! Reap whatever we sow. For Tunstall, for justice, For the wrong that was done. We rode out as lawmen... Came back outlaws, every one. [Verse 2] Through the hills and through Lincoln, through the dust and the rain, Every killing carved another man's name. Brady went down on the Lincoln street, And the badge in the dust spelled the law's defeat. They buried Dick Brewer where Blazer's Mill stands, And the war took the county in its bloody hands. Five days in Lincoln, then McSween's house burned, And Billy ran out through the gunfire with nowhere left to turn. [Pre-Chorus] Saddle up, boys, There's nowhere to hide. When the law picks a side... Then the law has already died. [Chorus] Regulators — ride! Let the whole county know. Regulators — ride! Reap whatever we sow. For Tunstall, for justice, For the wrong that was done. We rode out as lawmen... Came back outlaws, every one. [Bridge – half-time] Was it justice? Was it revenge? Somewhere between them We crossed the edge. One dead man. Then two. Then four. And nobody remembered What they started fighting for. [Instrumental Break Fiddle begins alone, playing a frantic frontier melody. Drums build underneath before twin electric guitars crash in and turn the fiddle melody into a heavy Southern-rock riff.] [Final Chorus] Regulators — ride! But there's nowhere left to go. Regulators — ride! Now the whole territory knows. Tunstall is buried, And the old cause is gone. We rode out for justice... But the killing rode on. [Outro] No badge. No warrant. No cause left to defend. Just Billy... A gun... And the road again.
