Tuning: Drop-D
[Verse]
D
I was born out west a ways
C
Beneath a cloudy sky
G
My momma called me Lightning
G C D
She saw rain clouds in my eyes
D
My daddy called me in one day
C
When I was very young
G
Said come and sit beside me boy
G C D
Listen here my son
[Verse]
D
When I was just your age he said
C
My daddy done me wrong
G
And now it's been twenty years
G C D
Ain't seen him in so long
D
I remember me the day he left
C
That man he seemed so tall
G
His words echoed in my head like
G C D
Gunshots off a canyon wall
[Chorus]
C
My daddy was a desperado
D
Left me footprints hard to follow
C D
There's some sins son that you just can't atone
C
The right path ain't the easiest
G
So you best be right with Jesus
C G A
And it's every cowboy's right to roam
C G
So you take this gun my only son
D
And you'll never be alone
[Verse]
D
That day my daddy promised
C
That he would do his best
G
Took granddaddy's gun and locked it
G C D
In a wooden chest
D
As the years they passed on by
C
He taught me to shoot and ride
G
My momma she always called me
G C D
Apple of my daddy's eye
[Verse]
D
I thought things'd just go on
C
Until that fateful letter came
G
With a sad smile something seemed to dawn
G C D
His face didn't seem the same
D
Looked like he was in disguise
C
Saw the hardness of his lips
G
But all I saw through teary eyes
G C D
Were the big irons on his hips
[Bridge]
C D
With that he just left like his daddy did
C A
And I never did find out just what that letter said...
[Chorus]
C
My daddy was a desperado
D
Left me footprints hard to follow
C D
There's some sins son that you just can't atone
C
The right path ain't the easiest
G
So you best be right with Jesus
C G A
And it's every cowboy's right to roam
C G
So you take this gun my only son
D
And you'll never be alone
[Verse]
D
And never sight nor sound
C
Of him had momma heard
G
She watched for him in plains
G C D
As empty as his word
D
Years passed by I stopped searching
C
For his silhouette in the sun
G
I met a gal and got married
G C D
And then we had us one
[Verse]
D
He was a child as perfect
C
As God's bluest sky
G
With golden hair across his brow
G C D
And his mommas eyes
D
Time seemed to stand still
C
I thought things couldnt be better
G
But that was just until
G C D
The postman brought the letter
[Chorus]
C
Your daddy is a desperado
D
I left you footprints hard to follow
C D
There's some sins son that I just can't atone
C
The right path ain't the easiest
G
And I ain't quite right with Jesus
C G A
I'm in trouble now and so, so far from home
C G
Won't you bring your gun my only son
D
Your daddy's all alone
[Verse]
D
A good long while I read that letter
C
I opened daddy's wooden chest
G
The words I read were bitter
G C D
I grabbed the gun and headed west
D
A few miles out I surely found
C
What I was looking for
G
An empty grave that I had dug
G C D
So many years before
[Verse]
D
A headstone all by itself
C
Out in this barren place
G
"Here lies just a desperado"
G C D
Carved in stone upon its face
D
I tossed that gun into the ground
C
And rode without a word
G
I knew that it would not be found
G C D
Before the stone was blurred
[Verse]
D
Went right home hugged my wife
C
Beneath a cloudy sky
G
A lightning bolt split the night
G C D
A sign I can't deny
D
I called my son in that day
C
When he was very young
G
I said come here sit beside me boy
G C D
Listen here my son
[Chorus]
C
My daddy was a desperado
D
Left me footprints hard to follow
C D
There's some sins son that you just can't atone
C
The right path ain't the easiest
G
So you best be right with Jesus
C G A
And it's every cowboy's right to roam
C G
That ain't me son, I'm surely done
D
But you'll never be alone
[Outro]
C G
That ain't me son, I'm surely done
D
And you'll never be alone
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