Pride and the Badge lyrics

All night long I tried to sleep,

But sleep refused to come,

'Cause today I knew I'd either

Have to fight or run.

Knowin' if I choose to run,

My mind would never rest,

'Cause with so much pride

I wear this badge upon my vest.

Folks are filled with fear

Because there's three bad guns in town.

Sheriff Olsen made the wrong move

And they shot him down,

One they called Dakota Jack,

One El Paso Red.

The other just turned twenty

And he's called the Killer Kid.

Good advice I get,

And that's to leave and run away.

But my pride and badge I wear

Won't let me live that way

If I stay, the three have aimed

To add me to their list

But I have a different aim

And I don't aim to miss

From the doorway where I stand

I see the outlaws three,

Worried none because they know

The town's not helpin' me.

From a hundred yards away

I try a lucky shot,

Luck is with me

And Dakota Jack dies on the spot.

The Kid runs through the barroom door

And Red goes up the stairs.

The Kid is ragin' mad,

He's shootin' bottles, kickin' chairs.

From a roof El Paso Red

Has vowed to pay me back,

As he views the lifeless body

Of Dakota Jack.

I can see him as he jumps

From one roof to the next

Searchin' for me

But he has no idea where I'm at.

But I watch his every move,

I'm ready when he leaps.

As I shoot him in mid-air

He crashes to the street.

Now there's one against just one,

I've evened up the score.

Down the street I hear a yell

Come through the barroom door.

The Kid has screamed, there's no way

I can live unless I run

Said there ain't no lawdog man

Enough to take his gun.

Through the barroom door he walks

And steps out in the street.

I can't match his draw,

He's much too fast for me to beat.

And as I walk toward him

We both grab a forty-five.

Maybe I will die today

And he will stay alive.

Like a hammer somethin' hits me,

Spinnin' me around.

As I fall I shoot him twice

Before he hits the ground.

His bullet missed me,

Still I feel a burnin' in my chest.

His bullet hit the badge

I wear with pride upon my vest.

As the people view the bodies

Of the lifeless three,

From their looks I know exactly

What they think of me.

To them I'm just a killer

And they could not care less

About my pride or about the badge

I wear upon my vest.