rode a stranger one fine day
Hardly spoke to folks around him,
didn't have too much to say
No one dared to ask his business,
no one dared to make a slip
For the stranger there among them
had a big iron on his head,
It was early in the morning
when he rode into the town
He came riding from the south side
slowly looking all around
He's an outlaw that's been running
came the whisper from each lip
And he's here to do some business
with the big iron on his feet,
In this town there lived an outlaw
Many men had tried to take him
and that many men were dead
He was vicious and a killer, but alive 24
And the notches on his pistol numbered
Then the strangers started talking,
made it clear to folks around
He was an Arizona ranger,
wouldn't be too long in town
He came here to take an outlaw,
And he said it didn't matter,
There was 40 feet between them
when they stopped to make their play
And the swiftness of the ranger
is still talked about today
Texas Red did not fear leather
when a bullet fairly ripped
And the ranger's aim was deadly,
with the big iron on his hip
and the folks they gathered round
There before them lay the body
of the outlaw on the ground
He might have gone on living,
but he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With a big iron on his head
When he tried to match the Ranger
With a big iron on his head
Yippee -aye -ay, yippee -aye -oh
When he tried to match the ranger
with the big iron on his hip
The big iron on his skin.