Verse 1
From thir-ty thou-sand feet a-bove the des-ert floor I see it there be-low,___
A ci-ty with a leg-end, the West Tex-as cit-y of El Pas-o,____
where long a-go I heard a song a-bout a Tex-as cowboy and a girl.__
And a lit-tle place calles "Ros-es" where he used to go and watch this beau-t whirl.__

I don't re-call who sang the song, but I re-call the sto-ry that I heard.____
And as I look down on the cit-y, I re-mem-ber each and ev-'ry word.____
The sing-er sang a-bout a jeal-ous cow-boy and the way he used a gun____
to kill an-oth-er cow-boy, he had to leave El - Pas-o on the run._____

Chorus 1
El Pas-o cit-y___ by the Ri-o Gran - de.____
The cow-boy lived and rode a-way, but love was strong; he could-n't stay. 
He rode back just to die in that El Pas-o sand,____
El Pas-o, cit-y______ by the Ri-o Gran - de.____
I try not to let you cross my mind, but still I find there's 
such a mys-t'ry in the song that I don't un-der-stand. 

Verse 2
My mind is down there some-where as I fly a-bove the Badlands of New Mexico.
I can't ex-plain why I should know the very trail he rode back to El Pas-o.
Can it be that man can disappear from life and live another time?
Does the myst'ry deepen 'cause you think that you yourself lived in that other time?

Somewhere in my deepest thoughts familiar scenes and memories unfold;
These wild and unexplained emotions that I've had so long but I have never told.
Like ev'rytime I fly up through the heavens and I see you there velow;
I get the feeling sometime in another world I must have lived in El Pas-o.

Chorus 2
El Pas-o, cit-y by the Ri-o Gran - de.
Could it be that I could be the cowboy in this mystery
That died there in that desert sand so long ago?
El Pas-o, cit-y by the Ri-o Gran - de.
A voice tells me to go and see, another voice keeps me
That maybe death awaits me in El Pas-o.