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
The stranger there among them
had a big iron on his hip,
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 loose and running
came the whisper from each lip
And he's here to do some business
with a big iron on his hip
In this town there lived an outlaw
Many men had tried to take him
and that many men were dead
He was vi cious and a killer,
though a youth of twenty -four
And the notches on his pistol numbered
1 and 19 more, 1 and 19 more
Now the stranger started talking,
made it plain to folks around
wouldn't be too long in town
He came here to take an outlaw
And he said it didn't matter,
he was after Texas Red, after Texas Red
It wasn't long before the story
But the outlaw didn't worry
men that tried before were dead
Twenty men had tried to take him,
twenty men had made a slip
Twenty -one would be the ranger
with a big iron on his hip,
The morning passed so quickly
it was time for them to meet
It was twenty past eleven
when they walked out in the street
Folks were watching from the windows,
everybody held their breath
They knew this handsome ranger
was about to meet his death,
There was forty 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 cleared leather
for a bullet fairly ripped
And the ranger's aim was deadly
with a big iron on his hip,
an d the folks had gathered round
There before them lay the body
of the outlaw on the ground
Oh, he might have went on living,
but he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the ranger
with a big iron on his hip,
When he tried to match the ranger
with a big iron on his hip,
