Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks Make 'em be doctors and lawyers and such Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys They'll never stay home and they're always alone Even with someone they love Cowboys ain't easy to love and they're harder to hold And they'd rather give you a song than diamonds or gold Lone Star belt buckles and old faded Levi's And each night begins a new day And if you don't understand him, and he don't die young He'll probably just ride away Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks Make 'em be doctors and lawyers and such Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys They'll never stay home and they're always alone Even with someone they love Cowboys like smoky old pool rooms and clear mountain mornings Little warm puppies and children and girls of the night And them that don't know him won't like him and them that do Sometimes won't know how to take him He ain't wrong, he's just different but his pride won't let him Do the things to make you think he's right Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks Make 'em be doctors and lawyers and such Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys They'll never stay home and they're always alone Even with someone they love Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks Make 'em be doctors and lawyers and such Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys