Johnson County War Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Intro 1]
[Am]
[G][Am]
[G][Am][F][C][G][Am]
[G]
[Am]

[Verse 1]
Headed for Wyoming in [G]1882
[Am]A woman, a team
and a dragon
Gonna make our [G]dreams come [Am]true
[F]Settled in the[C] foothills of the big[G],
Worn mountain [Am]slopes
Life was sweet, we lived on the meat of
The [G]Deer and the [Am]Antelope

[Verse 2]
We cut [Am]house logs up on the
mountain
[G]With a team we hauled [Am]'em down
Built and we stacked 'em up
[G][?] some bottom gro[Am]und
[F]Traded for som[C]e cattle,
Turned [G]them out on the open [Am]range
Skies were blue but
we never knew
[G]How things were gonna [Am]change
[F]Old Powder

[Verse 3]
[C]River, [G]you're muddy
And [Am]you're wide
How [F]many men have [C]died
along your [E]shore
When you [F]brand a man a rustler[C],
[G]He's gotta take [Am]a side
There's no middle ground in this
[G]Johnson County War
[Am]

[Verse 4]
When the neighbours
stopped by yesterday
While I was [G]outside chopping wood
[Am]To fill me in on the local news
Ain't [G]none of it sounded [Am]good
Said there's [F]been some cattle stealing
[C]By [G]some local outlaw ban[Am]d
We'd all been branded rustlers
By the big [G]ranchers of [Am]this land

[Verse 5]
So it's us against [Am]the cattle
men
[G]And the years just made [Am]it worse
First the drought and then
the tough winter
John[G]son County been dealt a [Am]curse
[F]Then there came a s[C]tory
about the [G]two [?]
[Am]Harrisson Jones and John Tisdale,
[G]both shot in
The back
[Am]

[Verse 6]
[F]Old Powder River, y[C]ou're mudd[G]y
And [Am]you're wide
How [F]many men have [C]died
along [E]your shore
When you [F]brand a man a rust[C]ler,
[G]He's gotta take [Am]a side
There's no middle ground in
[G]this Johnson County [Am]War

[Verse 7]
[Am]
Then last night at supper time
Well a [G]rider stopped by [Am]chance
He said the cattle men, their hired guns
Just [G]burned the Casey [Am]ranch
Two [F]men had died this [C]morning
[G]Shot down [Am]in the snow
Now the vigilante army was
on the march [G]to [Am]Buffalo

[Verse 8]
Well the [Am]county was in an uproar
Every man [G]saddled up [Am]to ride
They got the cattle men
at the T.A ranch
And sur[G]rounded all four [Am]sides
[F]They [?] the house with [C]bullets
[G]Swore [Am]they were [?]
Then the calvary came from
across the plains
Once [G]again they saved [Am]the day

[Verse 9]
[Am]
Well they marched them off
to Cheyenne
[G]No one went to jail
[Am]The cattle men were all turned loose
And their [G]hired guns [Am]hit the trail
And I [F]guess the only [C]justice
Wasn't [G]much to say the [Am]least
Last winter me and mine ate mighty fine
On the cattle burns [E]beef

[Verse 10]
[F]Old Powder River, y[C]ou're mudd[G]y
And [Am]you're wide
How [F]many men have [C]died
along [E]your shore
When you [F]brand a man a rust[C]ler,
[G]He's gotta take [Am]a side
No middle ground in [G]this Johnson
County [Am]War

[Verse 11]
There's no middle ground in this [G]Johnson
County [Am]War

[Outro 1]
[Am][G][Am][G][Am]
[F][C][G][Am][G][Am]