Lyrics:

2010**lf**Writer: Michael Martin Murphey**lf****lf**A group of jolly cowboys, discussing plans at ease**lf**Says one, I''ll tell you something, boys, if you will listen, please**lf**I am an old cow-puncher, you see me dressed in rags**lf**I used to be a good one, boys, and went on great big jags**lf****lf**I have got a home boys, a good one you all know**lf**Though I haven''t seen it since very long ago**lf**I''m going back to Dixie once more to see them all**lf**Going to see my mother when the work''s all done this fall**lf****lf**When I left my home, my mother for me cried**lf**She begged me not to go, boys, for me she would have died**lf**Mother''s heart is aching, breaking for me, that''s all**lf**With God''s help I''ll see her when the work''s all done this fall''**lf****lf**Instrumental Break**lf****lf**That very night, this cowboy went out to stand his guard**lf**The night was dark and cloudy, it was storming very hard**lf**The cattle, they got frightened and they rushed in wild stampede**lf**The cowboy tried to head them while riding at full speed**lf****lf**Riding in the darkness, so loudly he did shout**lf**Trying hard to head them, to turn the herd about**lf**His saddle horse did stumble and on him it did fall**lf**He won''t see his mother when the work''s all done this fall**lf****lf**Instrumental Break**lf****lf**His body was so mangled, the boys all thought him dead**lf**They picked him up so gently and they laid him on a bed**lf**He opened up his blue eyes and lookin'' all around**lf**He motioned to his comrade, come near him on the ground**lf****lf**He said, ''Send my mother my wages, boys, the wages I have earned**lf**I am so afraid, now, the last steer I have turned**lf**I''m headed for a new range, I hear the Master call**lf**Guess I won''t see my mother when the work''s all done this fall**lf****lf**''But Fred, you take my saddle, George, you take my bed**lf**Bill, you take my pistol after I am dead**lf**Please think of me kindly when you look upon them all**lf**I''ll not see my mother when the work''s all done this fall''**lf****lf**Charlie was buried at sunrise, no tombstone for his head**lf**Nothing but a little board, and this is what it said**lf**''Charlie died at daybreak and he died from a fall**lf**He''ll not see his mother when the work''s all done this fall''