When I leave Colorado I cry
It’s not the crispy air - it’s not the “Rocky Mountain High”
The friendships that I make there - the people who really care
  seem temporary, pleasant dreams of past
I fear “Goodbye” is the end - friends I’ll never see again
That’s why when I leave Colorado I cry

On my Grandpa’s ranch in ’69, I met Justin for the first time
He was nineteen and I was five
  He showed me how to saddle that pony of mine
He’d lead the trail up Black Mountain where there’s snow all year round
Telling stories of a wild life, we’d laugh the whole way down
Didn’t know it would happen - didn’t know it would end
As we drove back to Texas - I realized - I’d never see him again
That’s why when I leave Colorado I cry

High school winter in ’78, I rode a bus to Telluride
On a hot tub night with the steam on the rise
  I thought I’d met the girl. Maybe the love of my life
We laughed and rolled down the icy slopes
I was trying too hard not to fall
But fall I did, in love with her - just a smile and I was in awe
I thought it might happen - I thought it might end
When I left that week, I never saw her again

I’m just a Texas boy who loves the Hill Country rains
And I’m filled with Texas joy driftin’ across the plains
But when I lay awake at night in bed, there’s a little voice inside my head
  Saying, “Go back to Colorado again!”

In the summer of 1997, camping on the St. Vrain
I made a hundred friends, we sang all night
  playing guitar until the morning came
We wrote some songs that made our hearts swell up and cry
We helped each other and loved one another and then we said “Goodbye”
I knew it would happen - this time I knew it would end
I can only hope I’ll see them again
That’s why when I leave Colorado I cry

It’s not the crispy air - It’s not the “Rocky Mountain High”
The friendships that I make there - the people who really care
  seem temporary, pleasant dreams of past
I fear “Goodbye” is the end - friends I’ll never see again
That’s why when I leave Colorado I cry