The Ballad Of Bart Mcgee

C                      F      C
Come hear the story of Bart McGee,
                      G
Inyo County deputy 1873
F                             C       Am
Chavez gang was running wild, raising hell
C                    G                 C
Bart tracked 'em but things did not go well
Am                                   C
Them bandits circled 'round and they caught him unaware
Am                         G
Took him to their hideout, tied him to a chair
     Am                                C
They spent the night talking 'bout the things they could do
   G                          C
To Bart McGee before they got through
Am                           C
Maybe they would skin him or drag him from a horse
Am                                    G
Maybe they would hang him, they might shoot him of course
Am                     C
Bart just sat there as if he hadn't heard,
G                              C
Through it all he never said a word

[Verse 2]
C                                 F             C
Yeah this was desert country, all sagebrush and wind
                                G
Beyond the Saline Valley, where hopes run mighty thin
     F                               C                Am
Them bandits drank their whiskey and just outside the door
      C                  G               C
Was a bronco mule they'd stole the day before.
Am                                    C
Them bandits roped that mule and they tied to the shack
Am                               G
Stripped ol' Bart naked and they stuck him on its back
         Am                     C
And they turned him around 'til he was pointed East
         G                           C
And they tied his legs together underneath
Am                             C
They untied that mule and they slapped it on the rear
Am                                     G
It went crackin' through the sagebrush like a wild deer
Am                          C
They kept Bart's horse, his saddle and his guns
G                                      C
And they figure Bart McGee's days were done.

[Verse 3]
          C                               F                 C
Well that mule tried to buck him off, and through the choya danced
                                 G
Bart knew that stayin' with him, was his only chance
    F                                   C                Am
Ol' Bart had fought the Paiute and he'd killed a grizzly bear
    C             G             C
And he could ride anything with hair
Am                                        C
Well the sun burnt his naked butt and the wind chapped him dry
Am                              G
And he broiled like bacon, underneath that desert sky
     Am                                C
He'd slap that mule upside the head to turn him left or right
       G                                        C
It was handlin' good when the moon come up that night
Am                      C
He made fifty miles, it ended none too soon
Am                                G
He topped the hill at Cerro Gordo that next afternoon
Am                                      C
The drunks outside the Gem Saloon could not believe their eyes
G                                  C
When a naked man on a mule trotted by.

[Verse 4]
C                                F            C
We all asked what happened, Bart never said a word
                                     G
He yanked out the cactus thorns, put ointment on his burns.
       F                            C              Am
And he bought a horse and rifle and set out on his way
    C                G              C
But what he meant to do he wouldn't say
Am                                C
A week went by without a word and we all feared the worst
Am                        G
Had them bandits got him, had he died of thirst?
Am                          C
Finally he come ridin' back leadin' his old horse
       G                            C
And he also had his hat and guns of course
Am                              C
And the robbin' and killin' all came to an end.
Am                              G
Not one of that Chavez gang was ever seen again.
Am                          C
We asked Bart about it, and when we'd asked enough
   G                                 C
He said "I just went back and got my stuff"

[Refrain]
C                      F      C
Come hear the story of Bart McGee
                      G
Inyo County deputy 1873
        F                              C           Am
And you know he kept that mule for the rest of its life
       C                      G                    C
And he treated it better than some men treat their wives
Am                C      Am             G        Am         C   G C
Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, a a huh, uh huh, ohh ho oh oh, oh ohho oh oh