As a young man I went ridin

Out on the western plains

In the state of North Dakota

I met my Nellie Cane, met my Nellie Cane

She was livin in a lonely cabin

Had a son by another man

Five years she had waited for him

As long as a woman can, as long as a woman can

Chorus:

I don’t know what changed my mind

Till then I was the ramblin kind

The kind of love I can’t explain

That I had for Nellie Cane

She took me on to work that day

To help her till the land

In the afternoon we planted seeds, in the evening we held hands

In the evening we held hands

Her blue eyes told me everything a man would want to know

It was then I realized I would never go,

I would never go

Chorus: I don’t know…

Well many years have gone by

And the son has grown up tall

I became a father to him

She became my all, She became my all

Chorus: I don’t know… end