E                  B                  A 
I?a man who?goin?o hell with heaven?blessing 
    E                  B                A 
The judge said I?not fit to live with men 
        E             B                  A 
They? building me a gallows in the courtyard 
   E                 B              A 
To make sure I don?pass this way again 
 

   E              B                   A 
My first taste of killin?as at Vicksburg 
  E          B                A 
I must have shot me a hundred men 
  E                  B                 A 
I learned to make my livin?ith a six-gun 
       E              B             A 
I?an outlaw now but I was a hero then 
 
Chorus: 
E             B               A 
Lord if I had only known the misery 
     E                 B                 A 
That glory?somethin?ot worth killin?or 
  E               B                A 
I wish now I had never touched the handle 
                 B      E 
Of a Hairtrigger Colt .44 
 

E       B             A 
I was a hunted desperado 
  E                 B           A 
A wanted man with a price on my head 
  E                     B                   A 
I thought that I could steal a taste of freedom 
  E        B                  A 
I got me a hangman?noose instead 
 
Repeat Chorus 
E          B            A 
Undertaker write on my tombstone 
  E              B                  A 
A killer finally killed and nothin?ore 
  E                      B               A 
I wouldn?be here if it hadn?been for Providence 
                  B      E 
And a Hairtrigger Colt .44 
 
Repeat Chorus 2x