C            F              G            C
Mary Martin was a schoolgirl just seventeen or so
C                      F            D               G
When she married Billy Archer about fourteen years ago
   F           G                 C                F
Not even out of high school folks said it wouldn't last
            D                                          G
But when you grow up in the country, you grow up mighty fast
    C            F        G                       C
They married in a hurry in March when school was out
     C                 F                   D                    G
Folks said that she was pregnant, "You just wait and you'll find out."
   F               G          C             F
It came about that winter, one gray November morn
C                                 G            C
The first of many more to come, a baby boy was born

[Chorus]
C                                           F
And cattle is their game, and Archer is the name
    D                           G
They give to the acres that they own
      F                 G          C                          F
If the Brazos don't run dry and the newborn calves they don't die
C                                Am
Another year from Mary will have flown
C                 G              C
Another year from Mary will have flown

[Verse 2]
C                   F          G           C
Now Billy kept what cattle his daddy could afford
C                              F           D    G
As he went bouncing across the cactus in a 1950 Ford
 F                         G              C                  F
But the cows were sick and skinny and the weeds was all that grew
D                                               G
But Bill he kept the place alive the only thing he knew
C                   F          G                 C
And Mary cooked the supper and Mary scrubbed the clothes
C               F              D               G
And Mary busted horses and she blew the baby's nose
F              G                C            F
And Mary and a shotgun kept the rattlesnakes away
C                              G              C
And how she kept on smiling no one could ever say

[Chorus]
C                                           F
And cattle is their game, and Archer is the name
    D                           G
They give to the acres that they own
      F                 G          C                          F
If the Brazos don't run dry and the newborn calves they don't die
C                                Am
Another year from Mary will have flown
C                 G              C
Another year from Mary will have flown

[Verse 3]
C                    F       G              C
Now the drought of '57 was a curse upon the land
C                F                     D              G
No one in Bosque County could give ol' Bill a helping hand
F                          G              C                F
The ground was cracked and broken and the truck was out of gas
D                                                      G
And cows can't feed on prickly pear instead of growing grass
C                        F           G                 C
Well the weather got the water and a snake bite took a child
C                 F                 D                 G
And a fire in the old barn took the hay that Bill had piled
F                    G             C                  F
The mortgage got the money and the screw worm got the cows
C                                   G                C
The years have come for Mary; she's waiting for them now

[Chorus]
C                                           F
And cattle is their game, and Archer is the name
    D                           G
They give to the acres that they own
      F                 G          C                          F
If the Brazos don't run dry and the newborn calves they don't die
C                                Am
Another year from Mary will have flown
C                 G              C
Another year from Mary will have flown