As a young man I went riding out on the western plain
In the state of North Dakota I met my Nellie Kane
I met my Nellie Kane

She was livin' in a lonely cabin with a son by another man
For five years she had waited for him as long as a woman can
Long as a woman can

   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 Kane

She took me on to work that day to help her till the land
In the afternoon we planted seed, in the evenin' we held hands
In the evenin' we held hands

Her blue eyes told me everything a man could want to know
It was then I realized that I would never go
I would never go

Now many years have gone by and her son has grown up tall
I became a father to him and she became my all
She became my all