my daddy told me "boy, you only shoot to kill"
i´m livin´ just for that thrill
nobody hurts me ´cos the payback´s twice as bad
in this town you don´t make a man mad

- ted mckinley´s dying
at the wheel of his truck
the engine running till it seized up
and nobody heard a thing
not a shout or gun shot ring
just a smell of diesel in the dust
(diesel in the dust)

mckinley wouldn´t back down from any man alive
but you need to if you´re to survive
the folks in town wanna settle their score
by using their own kinda law

- repeat

[instrumental]

no one had seen a thing when the sheriff´s car pulled in
just the silence you get from kin to kin
the preacher bowed his head, glad that he was dead
and the better the least that was said

- repeat

in this town there was a man out on his own
with no account of how he stood alone
nobody hear a thing, not a shout or gun shot ring
just the smell of diesel in the dust
diesel in the dust