Chris LeDoux – Johnson County War (Guitar)

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Versions (2)

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[Intro] Am Am G Am Am G Am F C G Am Am G Am [Verse 1]
Am                     G  Am
Headed for Wyoming, in 1882

  Am                                G                    Am
A woman, a team, and a wagon, gonna make our dreams come true

F              C                G                 Am
Settled in the foothills of the big horn mountain slope

Am
Life was sweet, we lived on the meat

       G                    Am
Of the deer and the antelope

       Am                                      G                  Am
We cut house logs up on the mountain, with the team we hauled 'em down

Am                                      G                    Am
Peeled 'em and we stacked 'em up, for a house and bought 'em ground

F               C                  G               Am
Traded for some cattle, turned 'em out on the open range

Am
The skies were blue, we never knew

    G                 Am
How things were gonna change
[Chorus]
F          C             G                Am
Ole Powder River, you're muddy and you're wide

    F             C               E
How many men have died along your shore

         F             C        G                 Am
When you brand a man a rustler, he's gotta take a side

Am                               G              Am
There's no middle ground in this Johnson County War
[Verse 2]
          Am                                          G                  Am
Well, the neighbors stopped by yesterday, while I was outside choppin' wood

Am                                                   G                    Am
And they filled me in on the local news, there ain't none of it sounded good

             F                    C             G               Am
Said there'd been some cattle stealin', by some no count outlaw bands

     Am
We'd all been branded rustlers

           G                    Am
by the big ranchers of this land

             Am                                G                  Am
Well, it was us against the cattlemen, and the years just made it worse

Am                                                   G                       Am
First the drought and then the tough winter, Johnson County had been dealt a curse

F                   C               G               Am
Then there came the story about the two dry gulch attacks

Am
Ranger Jones and John Tisdale

G                   Am
both shot in the back...
[Chorus]
F          C             G                Am
Oh, Powder River, you're muddy and you're wide

    F             C               E
How many men have died along your shore

         F             C        G                 Am
When you brand a man a rustler, he's gotta take a side

Am                               G              Am
There's no middle ground in this Johnson County War
[Verse 3]
Am                              G                 Am
Then last night at supper time, riders stopped by chance

              Am                                      G                 Am
They said the cattlemen and their hired guns had just burned the Kaycee Ranch

    F                 C        G                Am
Two men had died this mornin', shot down in the snow

        Am
Now the vigilante army

              G             Am
Was on the march to Buffalo

          Am                                 G                 Am
Well, the county was in an uproar, and every man saddled up to ride

           Am                                G                Am
Caught the cattlemen at the TA Ranch, and surrounded all four sides

F                        C           G                      Am
We hailed the house with bullets and swore they were gonna pay

        Am
But the calvery came across the plains

          G                     Am
And once again they saved the day
[Verse 4]
           Am                               G                Am
Well, they marched 'em off to Cheyenne, and no one went to jail

    Am                                       G                    Am
The cattlemen were all turned loose, and the hired guns hit the trail

      F                  C           G                 Am
And I guess the only justice, wasn't much to say the least

(Am)
Last winter me and mine ate mighty fine
On the cattle baron's beef [Chorus]
F          C             G                Am
Oh, Powder River, you're muddy and you're wide

    F             C               E
How many men have died along your shore

         F             C        G                 Am
When you brand a man a rustler, he's gotta take a side

Am                               G              Am
There's no middle ground in this Johnson County War

           Am                    G              Am
There's no middle ground in this Johnson County War
[Outro] Am G Am Am G Am F C G Am Am G Am