Texty: Yonder Mountain String Band. Mountain Tracks Volume: 2. Dawn's Early Light.

That old prairie wind is blowing
I can feel it on my face
As the land, it rolls out before me
Everything is in it's place

My old home, I'll never go to
My old home, I'll never see
For I must ride now across these flatlands
Fleein' the man who murdered me

Chorus:
By the dawn's early light
Oh now, I must saddle up and ride
By the dawn's early light
Oh now, ride through the night
Into the dawn's early light

In the state of Indiana
Lived the man who killed my son
I shot him dead, now I did it indeed
After ten long years on the run

But that man, he was not a loner
Had two brothers, Lord, you see
They flipped a coin to let fate decide
Which one would come and murder me

[ Chorus ]

Sun comes up, down in the valley
In the air, sensation (???)
When I see comin' up around the corner
Both of the Brothers riding right in front of me

Down in the valley it's two against one
All men reaching for their guns
Three shots fired down deep in the valley
Two men dying in the morning sun

By the dawn's early light
My boy's kneelin' by my side
By the dawn's early light
As I lay me down to die

By the dawn's early light
Oh now, I must saddle up and ride
By the dawn's early light
Oh now, ride through the night

Riding along into the night
Riding along into the night
Well, it must've been five, six years ago under the dawn's early light
well, I led my darling down the old vermillion way
well, I led her down to the riverside (???)
And we said our vows in the moonlight that night
And we knew from that day we'd never be apart
But then it all changed in the blink of an eye