A Letter from Home

by Johnny Cash

From the album: Sings the Ballads of the True West

Track 14 of 26 on Sings the Ballads of the True West (1965).

Duration: 2:33

Sings the Ballads of the True West cover art

Lyrics for A Letter from Home

A cowpoke rode in one hot dusty day To a store down in old San Antone He stood at the window and I heard him say Do I have a letter from home The postmaster looked through the mail that had come Then smilingly shook his grey head The cowboke looked sadly a moment at him And these are the words that he said No letter from home, no letter from home There's never a letter from home (No message from mother and none of the other) There's never a letter from home That night he was shot on the wrong side of town No more of those plains will he roam I reached for my Bible and gave it to him Said, "Son, here's your letter from home" "If only I had just a little more time To read it", the young cowpoke said "I can't take it with me and I must go on" Then he died with his letter unread The letter from home, the letter from home No time for the letter from home (The cowboy laid dead with his letter unread) Too late for the letter from home

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More from Sings the Ballads of the True West

  1. Hiawatha's Vision
  2. The Road to Kaintuck
  3. The Shifting, Whispering Sands, Pt. I
  4. Narration 1
  5. The Ballad of Boot Hill
  6. I Ride an Old Paint
  7. Narration 2
  8. Hardin Wouldn't Run
  9. Narration 3
  10. Mister Garfield
  11. The Streets of Laredo
  12. Narration 4
  13. Johnny Reb
  14. A Letter from Home
  15. Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie
  16. Mean as Hell
  17. Sam Hall
  18. 25 Minutes to Go
  19. The Blizzard
  20. Narration 5
  21. Sweet Betsy from Pike
  22. Green Grow the Lilacs
  23. Narration 6
  24. Stampede
  25. The Shifting, Whispering Sands, Pt. II
  26. Reflections