Four Rode By

Ian Tyson


Four rode by, rode through here
Three McLean boys and that wild Alex Hare
They were armed, all were armed
It was them, I'd have known them anywhere

Willy Palmer's stallion was no twenty dollar cayuse
And when the wild ones stole him, he hightailed it into town
Usher in those days was keeping order in the district
But before he'd ridden thirty miles, the McLean Boys shot him down

Four rode by, rode through here
Three McLean boys and that wild Alex Hare

A shepherd know as Kelly saw the wild ones as they passed
And they shot him with a rifle, and they took his watch and chain
When the posse found them there in the lonely cabin
A hunger took their fight away, and no one else was slain

Four rode by, rode through here
Three McLean boys and that wild Alex Hare

They hung the boys in January, 1881
The first time in that province that they'd strung up brothers three
And their son killed nineteen Germans across the sea back in 17
One thing that's for damn sure, they're a wild old family

Four rode by, rode through here
Three McLean boys and that wild Alex Hare
They were armed, all were armed
It was them, I'd have known them anywhere