Verse 1:
    E5                       D5
Now he don't expect her to stay true to him
    E5                       D5
and she never says that she will
     E5                     D5
but he's got a first love that just might kill him
     E5                             D5
and she knows he's hooked on the thrill
      G5                          D5
So she'll wait and worry then she'll wait some more
          G5                        D5
for the fever that drives him to just run its course
      B5                         D5                       G5
she talks to that picture they took their last night together

Chorus:
           D5          A5        G5             D5          A5       E5
Says you can't be a cowboy forever, no you can't be a cowboy forever.

Verse 2:
    E5                       D5                            E5     
Sometimes he calls her he swears that the ground hurts, more than it did 
    D5
yesterday.
     E5                           D5                         E5    
But she knows his voice, and he still sounds determined, to do whatever it 
  D5
takes.
     G5                           D5                             G5
So she'll wait and worry then she'll wait some more, for the fever that 
                D5
drives him to just run its course
       B5                          D5                       G5
the whiskey he drinks said some things last spring that upset her.

Chorus:
         D5           A5       G5             D5           A5      E5
But he can't be a cowboy forever, no you can't be a cowboy forever.

Instrumental:

Verse 3:
      E5                             D5
Then one night he shows up, and he says what's for dinner
      E5                      D5
with that cocky grin on his face.
     E5                          D5
the way that she smiled and the way that she held him
  E5                     D5
told him he wasn't too late.
    B5                       D5                            G5
As she closed her eyes, and he slipped that ring on her finger.

Chorus:
           D5           A5      G5
Said you can't be a cowboy forever,
         D5           A5      G5
No you can't be a cowboy forever,
         D5           A5      E5
No you can't be a cowboy forever.