Just a ragged kid in overalls, he thumbed a ride one day
He told me, “Anywhere you’re going is on my way”
But as we p***ed by Big Al’s drive-in his eyes began to flash
He was leavin’ Rapid City mighty fast

He said, “I hope to God she finds
The goodbye letter that I wrote her
But the mail don’t move so fast
In Rapid City, South Dakota”

Now, he left her just a blanket of snow upon the farm
And that don’t keep your conscience very warm
He said his friends were too darn country and his pa was too damn mean
And there weren’t no money pumpin’ gasoline

And her gentle eyes, the merchandise
Of dreams the peddler sold her
Who left her there alone
In Rapid City, South Dakota

The reason he was goin’, I ain’t sure I could say
Might have been the rodeo in Santa Fe
“There’s a doctor in Chicago, I know she’ll be all right ”
He told himself as he stared into the night

He said, “I hope to God she finds
The goodbye letter that I wrote her
But the mail don’t move so fast
In Rapid City, South Dakota”

And all her people treatin’ her
Just like they never knowed her
And the winter’s p***in’ slow
In Rapid City, South Dakota