C
Those other years, the dusty years
                            D
When we drove the big herds through
C
I tried to forget the miles we rode
                   D
And Spanish Johnny too

[Verse 2]
     C                                              D
He'd sit beside a water ditch when all his herd was in
    C                                G             D
And he'd never harm a child but sing   to his mandolin
            C
He sang the old songs, the old ways,
                        D
and the dealins' of our game
C                                             D
Spanish Johnny seldom spoke, but sang songs of Spain

[Verse 3]
C
And his talk with men was vicious talk
                     D
When he was drunk on gin
    C                                    G               D
Ah, but those were golden things he said   to his mandolin


[GUITAR G  O]


[vERSE 4]

C
We had to stand, we had to judge,
                   D
We had to stop him then
        C                                            D
For the hand so gentle to a child had killed so many men

[vERSE 5]
C                                                    D
He died a hard death long ago before the roads came in
        C                            G            D
And the night before he swung he sung  to his mandolin
C
Well, we carried him out in the mornin' light
                  D
a man who done no good
C
And we lowered him down in the cold cold clay
                    D
Stuck in a cross of wood
      C
And a letter he wrote to his kinfolk
                        D
To tell them where he'd been
      C
And we shipped it on down to Mexico,
G                     D      C
Along with his  mandolin