I've Ranged, I've Roamed and I've Traveled

I've ranged, I've roamed and I've travelled
I've been a no good, they say
Many years of my life I have wasted
But I'll stop leading that life today

I had a dear old mother, a dad, and a sister too
But I was the youngest and spoiled they say
By mother as mothers will do

I left when a kid for the city
I craved the great white way
But it is a place without pity
I went wrong the very first day

I met there a painted lady
She seemed so jolly and gay
She took me to her apartment
Where a dozen or more men stay

It was her gang, she was their boss
They talked, oh the fun thy had
We all played poker and soon I lost
Every nickel that I had

They said, "Come on kid and cheer up
We'll let you join our gang"
They took me out on a job that night
And then my troubles begin

Oh, some of the mob shot the watchmen
And they laid the blame on me
I finished 20 years in prison
Now I'm a man of 43

It was then I thought of my mother
At home so feeble and grey
I could see her throwing kisses at me
As she did when I went away

I sat down and wrote her a letter
And this is how it ran
I said, "Mother, I've been gone for 21 years
Out west on that Rio Grande"

No mail ever reaches me there
There's nothing but sagebrush and sand
Mother, I love you and want to come home
And start life all over again