My daddy told me "Boy, you only shoot to kill"
   I'm livin' just for that thrill
   Nobody hurts me 'cos the payback's twice as bad
   In this town you don't make a man mad
  
   * Ted McKinley's dying
   At the wheel of his truck
   The engine running till it seized up
   And nobody heard a thing
   Not a shout or gun shot ring
   Just a smell of diesel in the dust
   (Diesel in the dust)
  
   McKinley wouldn't back down from any man alive
   But you need to if you're to survive
   The folks in town wanna settle their score
   By using their own kinda law
  
   * Repeat
  
   [INSTRUMENTAL]
  
   No one had seen a thing when the sheriff's car pulled in
   Just the silence you get from kin to kin
   The preacher bowed his head, glad that he was dead
   And the better the least that was said
  
   * Repeat
  
   In this town there was a man out on his own
   With no account of how he stood alone
   Nobody hear a thing, not a shout or gun shot ring
   Just the smell of diesel in the dust
   Diesel in the dust