Mary was married with children,
had the perfect suburban life,
'til her husband came clean with the help of Jim Beam
and confessed all his sins one night.
Said he'd fallen in love with a barmaid,
said she made him feel reckless and young.
And when he got through, what else could she do?
She just let that pony run.

(chorus)
'Cause you do what you gotta do,
and you know what you know.
You hang on till you can't hang on,
then you learn to let go.
You get what you want sometimes,
but when it's all said and done,
you do what you gotta do
then you let that pony run.

Now Mary moved to West Virginia,
after the shock wore off.
She got a divorce and a chestnut horse
and a barn with an old hayloft.
Sometimes she rides down by the river,
said it makes her feel reckless and young.
She just closes her eyes, and she holds on tight,
and she lets that pony run.

(repeat chorus)