The judge said I'm not fit to live with men They're buildin' me a gallows in the courtyard To make sure I don't pass this way again
My first taste of killin' was at Vicksburg I must have shot me a hundred men I learned to make my livin' with a six-gun I'm an outlaw now but I was a hero then
Lord if I had only known the misery That glory's somethin' not worth killin' for I wish now I had never touched the handle Of a hair-trigger Colt .44
I was a hunted desperado A wanted man with a price on my head I thought that I could steal a taste of freedom I got me a hangman's noose instead
Lord if I had only known the misery That glory's somethin' not worth killin' for I wish now I had never touched the handle Of a hair-trigger Colt .44
Undertaker write on my tombstone A killer finally killed and nothin' more I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for Providence And that hair-trigger Colt .44
Lord if I had only known the misery That glory's somethin' not worth killin' for I wish now I had never touched the handle Of a hair-trigger Colt .44
Lord if I had only known the misery That glory's somethin' not worth killin' for I wish now I had never touched the handle Of a hair-trigger Colt .44