Big Iron chords by Michael Martin Murphey

• Tuning: Standard tuning
• Difficulty: Beginner

Big Iron
Michael Martin Murphey


Intro G# C#m C#m7 C#m C#m7 C#m C#m

    E            C#m
To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day
    E                         C#m
Hardly spoke to folks around him didn`t have too much to say
    A                E
No one dared to ask his business no one dared to make a slip
                    C#m
for the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip
A        E
Big iron on his hip

                  C#m
It was early in the morning when he rode into the town
    E                       C#m
He came riding from the south side slowly lookin` all around
    A                 E
He`s an outlaw loose and running came the whisper from each lip
                      C#m
And he`s here to do some business with the big iron on his hip
A        E
big iron on his hip


                     C#m
In this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas Red
   E                        C#m
Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead
    A               E
He was vicious and a killer though a youth of twenty four
                    C#m
And the notches on his pistol numbered one an nineteen more
A        E
One and nineteen more


                     C#m
Now the stranger started talking made it plain to folks around
    E                   C#m
Was an Arizona ranger wouldn`t be too long in town
    A              E
He came here to take an outlaw back alive or maybe dead
                  C#m
And he said it didn`t matter he was after Texas Red
A      E
After Texas Red

                 C#m
Wasn`t long before the story was relayed to Texas Red
    E                       C#m
But the outlaw didn`t worry men that tried before were dead
    A              E
Twenty men had tried to take twenty men had made a slip
                    C#m
Twenty one would be the ranger with the big iron on his hip
A        E
Big iron on his hip


                   C#m
The morning passed so quickly it was time for them to meet
    E                       C#m
It was twenty past eleven when they walked out in the street
      A                E
Folks were watching from their windows everybody held their breath
                  C#m
They knew this handsome ranger was about to meet his death
A         E
About to meet his death



There was forty feet between them
                C#m
when they stopped to make their play
    E                       C#m
And the swiftness of the ranger is still talked about today
   A                 E
Texas Red had not cleared leather for a bullet fairly ripped
                    C#m
And the rangers aim was deadly with the big iron on his hip
A        E
Big iron on his hip


                C#m
It was over in a moment and the folks had gathered round
   E                       C#m
There before them lay the body of the outlaw on the ground
   A                E
Oh he might have gone on living but he made one fatal slip
                      C#m
When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip
A        E
Big iron on his hip
  A    E
Big iron Big iron
                      C#m
When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip
A        E  C#m
Big iron on his hip