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 lookin' all around
"He's an outlaw loose and runnin'",
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 vicious and a killer,
though a youth of twenty four
And the notches on his pistol numbered
Wasn't long before this story was
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 the 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 watchin' from the windows
Every body held their breath
They knew this handsome ranger was
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 had not cleared leather
for a bullet fairly ripped
And the ranger's aim was deadly,
with the big iron on his hip
and the folks had gathered 'round
There before them lay the body
of the outlaw on the ground
Oh, he might have went on livin'
but he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the ranger
with the big iron on his hip
When he tried to match the ranger
with the big iron on his hip
