The Ballad Of Boot Hill Chords
by Johnny Cash
The Ballad Of Boot Hill by Johnny Cash is a beginner-friendly guitar song played in the key of G. It uses the chords G, D and Em. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.
G
Here lies Les Moore,
D
four slugs from a forty-four,
G
no Les no more.
Em G
Out in Arizona, just south of Tucson,
Em D
where tumbleweeds tumble in search of a home,
there's a town they call Tombstone
G
where the brave never cry.
Em D G
They live by a six-gun, by a six-gun they die.
Em G
It's been a long time now since the town was a boon.
Em D
The jailhouse is empty, so's the Palace Saloon.
G
Just one look will tell you that this town was real.
Em D G
A secluded old dirt road leads up to Boot Hill.
Em G
Walk up to the fence there and look at the view;
Em D
That's where they were hangin', eighteen-eighty-two.
G
It's easy to see where the brave men died;
Em D G
Rope marks on the old tree are now petrified.
Em G
At night, when the moon shines so far away,
Em D
It gets mighty lonesome, lookin' down on their graves.
G
There lies Billy Klen; never wanted to kill,
Em D G
but he's there with the guilty, way up on Boot Hill.