He was born in the little farming town of Winterset On the new frontier A Midwest native son But his star would shine as bright As any star can ever get And he would cast a giant shadow Before he was done Tall in the saddle He went to reap the wild wind In old California And across the Rio Grande From a stage coach on a big trail To Rio Bravo and back again He rode on wings of eagles this quiet man Here's to you Marion Michael Morrison Here's to you For all our battles that you fought and won A true American hero A straight shooting son of gun Here's to you Marion Michael Morrison Singin' Sandy Sergeant Striper McClintock and McQ Katie's elder son And big Jim McLane Brannigan and Rooster Hondo and Big Jake Yeah, we knew him By a hundred different names On the sands of Iwo Jima Back to Bataan The flying tigers And the green berets He was with the fighting Seabees And every American fighting man At the Alamo and on that longest day And here's to you Marion Michael Morrison Here's to you For all our battles that you fought and won A true American hero A straight shooting son of gun Here's to you Marion Michael Morrison There might be few who would dare to say The star you hung might fade away But I can hear you tell them "Pilgrim, that'll be the day" Here's to you Marion Michael Morrison Here's to you For all our battles that you fought and won A true American hero A straight shooting son of gun Here's to you Marion Michael Morrison Here's to you Marion Michael Morrison